Best Kept Secret
by Emiri-chan the GREAT
Summary: Kei and Sho both know that sooner or later, Son must know about Kei's vampiric nature. But when Son's ignorance accidentally threatens Kei's life, will his new discovery strengthen their ties... or destroy them all? Injuries, severe angst, drama. CH 5!
1. The Truth Burns

TADAAAA! The first straight Moon Child fanfic on fanfiction dot net!

Ahh, heck let's just be on the safe side: THE FIRST STRAIGHT MOON CHILD FANFIC EVER! BWAHAHAHAHAAH!

...Let the flames... BEGIN!

P.S. Please do not mind the inane rantings of the crazy fangirl authoress. She just turned 18 and we only keep her for her story writing. Thank you and don't blame us.

Signed, The FAC: Fangirl Administration Council

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

BEST KEPT SECRET

By: Emiri-chan

(Dedicated to all my fangirl friends and to the Supreme Hotness himself, Gackt-sama. And of course, Mr. Bishie HIMself: Hyde-san.)

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The apartment was empty save for him: a colorful, luxurious but quite spotlessly sterile environment. That was normal and not really depressing; he'd always stayed behind when the boys were out playing. Now that they were young adults, things were no different. As soon as the sun set he'd be out with them; drinking, laughing, perhaps pulling a job.

Even if it was normal though, Kei didn't have to be patient about it.

'Where are they?' the vampire thought irritably. 'They said they'd be back by two. Morons.' The blond took a deep breath and laid back down on the couch near the window, taking a drag from his cigarette. Even with the heavy drapes blocking out the light, he usually stayed away from windows. 'What the hell. Live dangerously once in a while.'

That nearly made him laugh aloud at himself. Most nights he was facing droves of men with high-powered guns and limitless bullets in a group of only two... and he considered sleeping next to a window during the day to be living 'on the edge'.

His wards were certainly taking their sweet time. The guys were just out partying, he knew; visiting Shinji at the pet shop, probably just so they could ogle his scantily-clad coworker, picking up some cigarettes and probably a little booze. Kei smiled unwittingly; he knew better than to trust Toshi in a situation like that. Come to think of it, the delivery boy was the one who had suggested they go out, and they'd taken Son with them.

Son was the new addition to their little family, but he wasn't really complete in the relationship. Toshi and Sho both knew well what Kei was, and Shinji did too, even if he never saw him any more. But both Son and his sister Yi-Che were blissfully unaware of what kind of a monster he was. They would need to know sometime, though. Even her...

'Ahh, not again! Don't think. Just leave it alone.' Kei abruptly crushed the end of his cigarette on the table ashtray and made up his mind to sleep, lying back on the couch and waiting for his eyes to close. His energy was severely depleted from going so long without a feed, but lately he just couldn't let himself do it, not when he thought of Yi-Che looking at him with that pure, beautiful face.

Besides, there would be another job tomorrow, a little voice sneered in his head. He told it to shut up and tried to go to sleep.

The vampire was a picture of deceiving innocence. His sandy-blond hair had grown just long enough to be able to spread messily over a few inches of the leather cushion, his red muscle shirt hugging his lean, fairly sinewy body and just revealing the tips of two black angel wings tatooed across his shoulder blades. He wore his loose black trousers he used for lounging around the house, and his feet were gracefully bare, legs pulled up so he could lie comfortably on his side, facing away from the window.

One arm draped lazily over his chest the other lolled gently over the side of the couch, and he sighed deeply. His chocolate-brown eyes drifted into mere dark slits, the childish, fair features relaxing, mouth opening slightly to reveal pointed canines as sleep crept over him, his breath evening...

Then Kei slipped away into dreams of a beautiful beach, darkness, the ocean... and a dark-haired man crouched on the sand, waiting for the sun.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Dammit, Toshi, that's the last time I listen to you on something like this," Sho growled angrily, shoving him with his shoulder as they walked down the sidewalk back to the apartment. "Idiot!"

"Hey, we almost got her attention!" Toshi tried to defend himself.

"How could we not! -I'd- react if some drunken dude plopped down into -my- lap!"

"I think the point was to get her to talk to us, not leave," Son suggested, hiding a smirk. He ran a hand through his dark hair and shook his head to get a few wayward strands out of his eyes.

"Getting noticed is the first step in making it with a woman," Toshi announced, doing a little skip as he walked. "We made progress."

Sho nearly slapped his forehead but thought better of it. It'd ruin his image.

He settled for rolling his eyes and threw his cigarette onto the concrete. "If you mean progress backwards."

Toshi smacked Sho upside the head and Son stepped between them quickly to prevent any bloodshed. It was quite disconcerting how fast Sho's hand moved to his hip holster. "Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Whoa, come on you guys," Son admonished in rapid Mandarin, hoping that if he struck a tone like an adult they'd actually listen to him. "Stop messing around before you draw someone's attention. What if the guys for tomorrow night's run see you and recognize you later? We won't be able to pull the job."

"They'd rid me of an annoying pizza boy," Sho muttered.

Toshi merely laughed it off, sticking his tongue out at him and trying not to think about how un-kidding Sho sounded. He could seriously kick some butt if he wanted to nowadays; not like when they were kids.

When he was young, Toshi had replaced his lack of parents with bugging the crud out of Sho and Shinji and busting a gut laughing every time. Back then he could've bothered them all day and not had to worry about anything but a light smack on the head. The three of them had run away from the orphanage together, taking it upon themselves to make a living in Mallepa... by any means necessary, legal or otherwise, but more often then not it was the former. It wasn't like they had much of a choice. Not many people wanted three brats to work for them legitimately; at least, no one they cared to work for. But even if they had, they were far too small, scruffy, and troublesome to be desirable.

Now, Sho had gotten a -much- more desirable and 'professional' look, so to speak. His hair was a messy sandy-blond with a set of rattail braids in a ponytail, blue eyes, strict leather attire: tight black pants, black T-shirt, a jacket in white-and-black, and of course, additional gun holsters. He'd grown much more handsome as he got older, but still sported the delicate baby-face he'd had as a kid. And to top it off, his looks were backed with exceptional skill in firearms and hand-to-hand combat, thanks to Kei.

Toshi had merely kept his infatuation with scooters and his eternally backwards hat. But now he had a legitimate day job, so he supposed he wasn't too bad off himself. (Not if he could still get Sho's temper going like when they were kids.)

"What time is it?" Sho asked suddenly in Mandarin, looking at Son.

"Huh? Oh, it's... about three," the Taiwanese answered, dropping the wrist he'd raised to check. "Why?"

Sho cursed profusely. "I promised Kei we'd get back by two, so we could hang out and get some lunch. Come on, let's go."

"Well, wait a minute, why can't he just meet us at a cafe?" Son inquired, raising an eyebrow. "We could grab a table and wait for him."

Toshi and Sho exchanged a quick look. "He's... not feeling well," Sho lied. "It's nothing contagious. He was wondering if we could bring him something, then maybe you two could come over and spend some time with him."

"That sounds good to me," Toshi supplied quickly. "Let's meet him there. You said he didn't look too good yesterday."

Son shrugged. "All right, whatever suits you guys."

Sho breathed an inner sigh of relief. They were going to have to tell him soon; Son was getting to be too close of a friend for him not be observant of Kei's living patterns. "Okay, let's go find some food."

"How about some pizza?" Toshi suggested.

"Toshi? Lay off the antics around the women we meet, -then- maybe I'll think about helping you get a raise."

"Aww, man!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

(The colors on the horizon were growing lighter and more vivid. The sun was coming, second by second, inch by agonizing inch.

("Yugure ni... kimi to mita..."

"No, Luka!"

"Orenji no... taiyou..."

"Come on! Let's go!"

A hard shove. "Go, by yourself!")

That had hurt. That had hurt so badly, when his mentor told him no. Luka wanted to die, and nothing he said was going to stop him. He wanted to stay, -needed- to stay, but he could already feel his skin growing hot. The light was almost there; if he stayed he would die. Fear overrode his desire for Luka to live, and it shamed him to this day. Terror spiked through him as his skin began to burn with horrible pain, and his choice was made against his will. He was running, fleeing from the poisonous sunlight.

Once out of range of the sun's destructive rays, he stood back and watched as the figure on the shore went up in flames.

Singing.

"Luka!")

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Come on, you stupid- AGH!" Sho rattled the key in lock and slammed it with his palm, balancing the bags of food in his other arm, and the door swung open.

"Nice place," Son commented as they stepped inside. "Business mustn't be too bad, huh?"

"Not too. We still need to make up a couple hundred from last week." Sho dropped the take-out onto the counter and threw the keys into a nearby chair, his boots echoing slightly on the polished wooden floor. As Toshi wandered in and plopped down into a chair next to the TV, stealing the remote (and Sho's cigarette packet, slipping it into his jacket), Son simply took in the set-up, watching the wall of electric lamps as they shed color onto the walls and a rainbow spiral of cloth dangled from the ceiling, turning slowly. It was obviously an old children's toy.

'Still so boyish in nature, those two,' Son thought impishly.

"I'll be back in a second. Don't touch anything." Sho's tone was dead serious. He gave Son a quick glare to make sure he'd understood him, then disappeared into the bathroom in the back, shutting the door firmly behind him. The dark-haired man grinned and rolled his eyes.

'Paranoid pretty-boy.'

Son went to the main room where a coffee table, a few couches, two lamps and a rug completed the furnishings. From the sound of rushing water in the bathroom, Sho was either showering or washing up in the sink. Casting a glance toward the window, the Taiwanese was drawn by a flash of red amidst the black leather of the furniture, and looking closer into the dim corner he realized that Kei had fallen fast asleep on the couch.

Smiling as he watched the smaller man turn in his sleep, Son stepped over to the couch and bent to talk to him.

"Hey, Kei?" There was no answer.

'Wow. He must be exhausted. He really didn't look good that night on the bench.' Son intended to put a hand on his shoulder and wake him up, but then he looked closer. The blond man's face was creased in a troubled expression, sweat beading on his cheeks and forehead as he twisted, murmuring something in his sleep.

'Nightmare. And a bad one by the looks of it; I'd better wake him.'

"Hey, come on Kei. Wake up." Son shook him slightly, but he only fisted one hand. Sighing, Son looked around the room. 'Well, sunlight is supposed to help people wake up. No wonder he's feeling so down; he's probably got SAD syndrome." Son walked casually over to the first set of curtains along the wall beside the couch and opened them, letting streaming sunlight pour into the darkened room, then the next set closer to the couch.

Finally, he pulled the cord on the curtains above Kei.

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!**"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sho shook his head violently to rid his face of excess water, then reached for the towel on the rack near the door. 'So. How do I tell him?' he wondered, completely baffled as to where he should begin. 'I'll wait 'til after dinner I guess, but... Geez, I mean, how do you tell someone something like this? "Yeah, I meant to tell you earlier, but Kei drinks people's blood and turns into a piece of bacon in sunlight. Sorry for not mentioning this sooner.'

Sho nearly winced at the thought of his best friend turning to ash in the blink of an eye. 'No. That's not gonna happen. You're just getting an overactive imagination. Kei'll tell him tonight, anyway. He'd probably want to let him know himself.' The young Japanese' nicotine craving kicked in and he searched the bathroom counter for a packet. He found none.

'K'so. If Toshi took my cigarettes again I'm gonna--'

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!**"

"Kei!"

Sho pulled up short, his features drawn and stark white as the sound of Kei screaming reached his ears, followed by Son's worried yell. Sho slammed the bathroom door wide open, making it bang against the back wall and skidded out into the living room with the force of his dash, dressed only in his pants and T-shirt.

Kei was writhing on the couch, smoking as if he were on fire. All three sets of curtains were wide open and Son was standing in horror at the foot of the couch, eyes wide; shocked and afraid for the man lying in front of him shrieking with pain.

"NO!" Sho screamed. The younger man threw himself on top of Kei as the vampire struggled, rolling onto the low table to escape the sun, and he swung his head up in Son's direction, trying to cover as much of Kei's vulnerable body as possible.

"Close the drapes!" he shouted. "CLOSE 'EM!"

"Wh-what!" Son was staring transfixed as Kei continued to steam from the bright sunlight, his skin blackening visibly.

"SHUT THE DRAPES, DAMMIT!" Sho thundered in Mandarin as Kei cried out in agony beneath him. "**NOW!**"

Toshi leapt forward and snagged the edges of the drapes, ripping them shut and cutting off the light from the window. Son followed suit, shutting the other two pairs with shaking fingers, and they were left in consuming darkness with only Kei's ragged breathing filling the silence. A few moments later their eyes adjusted to the electric lamps and the sheet of smoke could still be seen hanging in the air. Sho was completely fixated on the man beneath him, sliding off the coffee table (and Kei) to grab a set of clothes-pins from the kitchen drawer and tossing them at Toshi.

"How many times have I told you to keep those pinned shut, damn it?" Sho snapped furiously. "He could have died!"

"I-I'm sorry, Sho, I forgot," Toshi stammered. "I never open them, I didn't think anyone else would--"

"_Damn right_ you didn't think!"

Son was still staring shakily at the blond man on the table. He was still smoldering. 'What the hell just happened? He was -burning-.'

Sho was trying desperately to revive Kei, who had basically passed out from the pain. The blond vampire's entire left side had been horribly burned and his face was black and shriveled on whatever parts had been touched by the light. He was still breathing pretty heavily too, and shaking. He;d probably been scared out of his wits, waking up to something like that. Sho was equally scared; for a few moments he'd actually thought Kei was gone.

"Kei, are you all right?" Sho questioned, holding him by the arms as the smaller man's eyes snapped open. He reached for a sort of medical cream that Toshi had brought and started spreading it over his friend's shoulder.

"Just terrific-c, thanks," Kei snapped, shivering from the pain. "What the h-hell h-happened?"

"Son opened the curtains; he didn't know. I think he was just trying to wake you up."

Kei's eyes snapped wide, and he grabbed Sho's wrist. "Son is here?"

Son swallowed uncomfortably, stepping into the injured vampire's line of vision. "Yes."

"What about Yi-Che? Where's your s-sister?" The question sounded surprisingly desperate. "She isn't here too?"

"What? No, she's not," Son answered confusedly.

Kei released a huge, deep breath and sank back onto the table. "Thank God." Kei winced and bit deeply into his lower lip as Sho continued treating his burns.

"They aren't healing," Sho cursed. "Kei, why aren't these burns disappearing?" The tall Japanese sounded angry, but Kei could hear the frightened tone beneath the harsh question. Sho lifted Kei's arm gently, pulled up the side of the shirt and began dabbing at some of the skin on his stomach. Kei curled into himself with a sharp hiss.

"I... haven't fed," Kei admitted tersely. "Not enough blood... to heal..."

Sho closed his eyes for a brief moment. He knew that was what had been ailing him for so long. Before this Kei only had to conserve energy and he wouldn't have needed blood so desperately, but now he had no choice. They would have to find someone.

"Wait, what do you mean 'not enough blood'?" Son asked, frustrated and upset that he had hurt Kei so badly and he didn't even know how. "What the hell is going on?"

Sho searched Kei's eyes, asking for his permission silently. A nod and a lowered gaze were all he received. Sho turned and looked Son straight in the eyes, his face grave and pleading with him to understand. "Son... When... When I was young... When Toshi, Shinji and I were all just three orphans living alone together... something terrible happened..." Sho took a deep breath. "A man we'd stolen money from found us and pulled a gun. I had just met Kei on accident and saved him from burning to death in the abandoned building we lived in. The guy shot Shinji in the leg and told me he'd kill him if I didn't bring him Toshi. I ran off, but a few seconds later Kei had taken care of the guy with the gun... We used the money to buy our first real apartment and things went from there."

Son was still looking at him uncomprehending. "Okay. What does that have to do with Kei burning?"

"Son... Kei is... is a vampire."

Silence.

"What."

"A vampire. He burns in sunlight, he never ages, and he... needs blood to survive. Human blood. That's what happens to the guys Toshi drugs. Kei feeds, we take the money. That's how it works."

"...You're telling me that Kei is a fairy-tale immortal who can't live in daylight, and drinks... b-blood?"

"Yes."

"And you expect me to believe this?"

"Yes." After all, the evidence was right in front of him.

Sho watched Son's reaction carefully. He looked freaked, that much was for sure, but he didn't look panicked. The Taiwanese looked more like he was weighing the implications of this than trying to figure out how to make a run for it. Kei was watching too, but an unfortunate glance in the wrong area had led him to stare at Son's neck, and the man's jugular was pulsing tantalizingly. His sensitive ears heard every quickened beat of the new human's heart, every rush of blood through his veins... Such sweet blood...

"No!" Kei snarled at himself, drawing the trio's attention as his grip tightened, fists vibrating with effort. Finally the smaller man jammed his hand into his mouth and bit down hard, immediately drawing blood and revealing pointed, elongated canine teeth.

"Kei?" Sho asked in concern. The vampire was staring at a wall, turning his head away from the direction of Son's neck.

"Get him out of here," Kei snapped at them in a distorted, gravelly voice that was definitely not his own. "-Get him out-!"

'Oh shit.' "Son, I think you should leave now," Sho told him quietly, seizing the man's arm and practically dragging him to the door. "I'll see you later. We'll need to talk." Son took one last look at Kei lying prostrate on the coffee table, his skin burned to a crisp, then ducked out of the doorway and down the concrete staircase.

Sho slammed the door and bolted it, then turned back to Kei. Toshi was sitting on the emptied couch with his head in his hands, obviously feeling responsible. Kei moaned in pain as the burns smarted again; he tightened his hold on his hand, drawing as much blood as possible into his mouth and downing it quickly. Sho Gently reached around his right shoulder and leg, and hefted him up into his arms, making damn sure not to touch any of his left side, supporting his weight against him. The younger man carried him to his usual leather cot-sofa and laid him there, taking up a pair of scissors and carefully cutting the red shirt off of him.

The damage was extensive; Sho could barely look at Kei without his gut aching in sympathy. The sun had cut right through the shirt and burned the left half of his torso. Sho caught a glimpse of the blood soaking Kei's hand and knew it was deadly serious. Kei never fed on himself, -never-.

"Kei," Sho said softly, trying to grab his attention away from his hand. "Kei?"

He didn't answer, but Sho knew he was listening; he could see it in his posture, in the way his eyes were roaming the wall.

"You need blood." It wasn't a question. "Where do you want me to find some?"

Kei looked directly at him, his dark eyes glowing from smooth skin and blackened husk. Sho's gaze was unshakable and completely honest. If it meant Kei could live, he'd gladly kill someone and bring them to him. Kei was almost frightened of the devotion he saw there. He knew he was Sho's only family and parent, not to mention his best friend, and that made him indispensable under any circumstances in Sho's mind. Hell, Sho was the same to him. But still, to make him do something like this...

"Sho," Kei began, not sure how he should say it. "No. You can't...do that. I..."

"Kei." The word was a threat, ordering him to understand that he wasn't going to let him say no.

Kei's eyes locked with his for a long while, neither of them moving a muscle. The silence was harsh, but not enough to break either of them. Finally, Kei's wounds were becoming difficult, and the bloodlust was too much to be contained. He turned his head to the side once again, avoiding his crystal blue gaze.

"Fine. Make sure it's someone who deserves it."

Sho nodded and without a word walked towards the door, snagging his keys and jacket on his way out.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Well... Stupid? Kool?

I don't have ANY idea where I'm going with this. Suggestions will be helpful. If I like 'em. HAHAHA- Ahem.

Reviews make the plot bunny go "WHEE!"

I'm leaving for Japan for six weeks on June 16th, so try to get me before then. If I don't update by then I will update this and/or my other fics in August. WAH! I'M GOING TO GACKT/HYDE LAND! SQUEE AN' POCKY STICKS!

If anyone is wondering if I need a strait-jacket, I just checked my IQ online and it's 133. Does that constitute me being an insane genius?

Probably not, just an arrogant wench.

Just got back from a pirate gig in Alabama, paid 100$ to do two days and a night being a "pyrate for hyre" with a group, one of which worked on Pirates of the Caribbean and is gonna try for sequels 2 and 3. I just found out they might be filming close to where I live/joined a casting agency, so I might be able to get in as an extra! WAH!

See ya soon!

Em

a.k.a. "Emma the Fiddler"


	2. Grave Mistakes

8/4/05:

I AM OFFICIALLY BACK FROM JAPAN AND HAVING A HARD TIME.

I had so much fun, but am so in reverse culture shock. I miss my host mom and dad... I was reading everyone's reviews you left; I could read but not write on their computer.

To clarify one thing, no I am not Japanese, but I just spent the last six weeks in Matsue, Shimane prefecture, Japan, and I have spent the last four years studying my butt off in language. I had a host mom, dad, and white longhaired chihuahua, (who I could write about for pages), and my speaking was good enough as to where I used no English except when I couldn't find a big word. I made a life there like I could have here, and I miss it sooooo bad.

I don't wanna be anti-American, but we could so learn some things from other countries. Japan is just so efficient and un-wasteful, and they at least leave their porno crap where you don't have to see it if you don't want to. I'm not saying they're perfect, because no country is, but I don't think I can live here anymore. Japan is the place for me. I know it sounds stupid, but I can't live in America anymore. I'm dead serious. The country just brings out the best in me.

Japan was so condusive to creativity and interaction with others, at least where I lived. That lifestyle made me get outside, start exercising, eating better, doing more of my own chores, draw more, speak with people more, write more... I lost like seven pounds and any character torture pictures I might have drawn became these really beautiful pictures of magical looking elemental elf guys and girls. Coincidence? I think not.

Here, my faithful reviewers, is what I was writing for you while in Japanese high school.

Also, to my one confused reader: This is a live-action movie starring Jpop/rock stars Gackt (pronounced in Japanese, Gahk-to) and Hyde from L'arc en Ciel. Not an anime. But thanks for the compliment! I'm glad you could enjoy it without knowing the movie! (Watch it tho, it's a good movie. SO SAD! But good movie.)

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

CHAPTER TWO

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Chikusho!"

Sho slammed his fist against the metal rail, making the entire staircase echo with his anger. _Dammit, why can't people travel alone anymore? Do they have to bring two or more friends with them all the time! Stupid._

The young Japanese ground his teeth and jammed his hands into his black leather pockets, nearly snapping a finger in two as he did so. Kei was lying there back home consumed with burning pain and hunger, no one but a traumatized Toshi to keep him company, and here he was wandering the back alleys of a shopping center in the red, setting sunlight.

_Stupid!_

"Dammit! At this rate I'll have to bring him a dog or something," he muttered. Sho had been hunting for worthy prey to take back with him, but everyone around him was either an innocent young girl, or a Chinese thug with five friends, all packing weapons and probably involved in drug cartels. _This isn't going to work. I've been at this for three hours and Kei's back at the apartment, starving... _

A thought hit him suddenly.

Starving. With only Toshi for company.

"Oh, _shit!_"

Sho's yelled expletive startled a trio of teenage girls walking nearby, and he literally shoved them out of the way as he pelted down the cement back to the complex. He prayed he hadn't left the two of them alone too long to stop anything horrible from happening.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Kei...? Kei?"

There was a blob of color above his head: orange and white and tan, talking to him. Sweat was dripping into his eyes, so he blinked a few times to clear them, staring up at the head in his line of vision. God, it hurt.

"Toshi?" he rasped quietly, just making sure.

"Yeah, it's me. Can I get you anything?"

_Yes_. "...No."

Toshi sat down on the end of the couch, taking off his cap with a sigh. Things were quiet; it was dusk, but still too bright outside to open the drapes. "I'm so sorry Kei. It's all my fault," Toshi lamented in earnest. "I should have been watching Son more closely, and the drapes..." He went silent, lost in thought. "...I really am sorry."

More silence.

"Does... does it hurt a lot?"

_No sense not telling the truth; he'd figure it out anyway._ "Yes."

Toshi winced in sympathy and guilt. More silence. Finally:

"...Toshi?"

"Huh?"

"...It wasn't your fault."

Toshi blinked, turning on the couch slightly to face him. Kei was staring at the wall, his head turned to the side.

"But... I--"

"I know. But it's not your fault. And it's not Son's, either," Kei murmured. "It was an accident. That's all."

Toshi was silent awhile. "Are you going to be all right?" he asked finally.

"...Am I--"

"The truth, Kei. I want to know if you'll be all right." Toshi's demeanor was unusually serious, and he was facing away from him now. "Kei?"

"..."

"Kei, answer me!"

Toshi whirled around and grabbed Kei's uninjured arm, anger and fear in his voice. The touch startled him, making Kei look up sharply-- just in time to be eye-level with Toshi's bare neck.

From there, it was over. Kei was completely fixated on that one point, unable to help himself as the trance drew him deeper. His mouth dropped open slowly, and his eyes were literally glowing with an all-consuming want-- no, _need._ Toshi took one look at him, realized in horror what he'd just done and let go of Kei's arm, rising to his feet and backing up a pace.

"Kei?"

He didn't answer. Toshi felt a chill run down his spine, making him shiver as Kei's predatory eyes roved over his jugular.

"Kei? Hey, Kei, wake up!" Still no answer.

Kei's good hand was gripping the edge of the cushion, and Toshi heard a popping sound as his fingers broke straight through the thick leather with the pressure being applied. Toshi found himself frozen, trembling in fear of his childhood friend and completely unable to move away from those burning, unfamiliar yellow eyes.

"Kei. Kei, please, snap out of it," Toshi found himself pleading. "Kei!

"_KEI!_"

At that point Sho burst into the apartment, startling the two of them by throwing the front door open practically off its hinges and ricocheting it off the back wall, nearly hitting him when it came back. Sho stood there just inside the doorway, gasping for breath and hunched over with his hands steadied on his knees, blue eyes wide and staring.

Kei's eyes lost their glow and he stood stock-still where he'd sat up on the couch, intending to reaching for Toshi.

"Sh-Sho," he whispered. Abruptly his vision swam and when he regained his senses, Sho was kneeling at the bedside, holding him upright on his shoulder.

"It's okay, it's okay," Sho whispered, his breath still slightly heavy. "Shh, don't talk, just-- That's it, shh--"

Toshi had backed away into the living room, where he was watching the proceedings with more than a little adrenaline still rushing through his system. The look in Kei's eyes had left him reeling; there was no doubt in his mind about how serious that situation had become. Sho laid Kei back onto the couch, grasping his hand as weakly as Kei was grasping his, so as not to make him feel trapped or threatened, but still holding on.

"I'm so sorry, Kei, I couldn't find anyone," Sho told him, his face inches from Kei's.

Kei closed his eyes in momentary despair. There was no way he could take on a prospective victim in this weakened state, and Sho hadn't succeeded.

And he was-- just so _hungry_--

"Kei?" The vampire looked up at him, his gaze more pleading than he'd intended it to be, and Sho stared down at him with a fierce determination and fear blazing from behind his blue eyes. "Wait here," he said finally, rising and removing his hand from Kei's grip.

The prone man heard Sho walk Toshi to the door and say goodnight, and something about having to talk later, but the door shut firmly, the rattle of lock-chains confirming it before Sho began wandering around the kitchen. A wave of hunger-induced nausea and pain from the burn wounds made him moan slightly, and he shut his eyes to a lullabye of clattering kitchen tools as Sho searched for something...

He was almost asleep when a loud clang from the kitchen and a soft uttered noise made him come awake--

--A clang that sounded an awful lot like a dropped butcher knife.

Ignoring the pain and driven by fear, Kei wrenched his left arm off of his chest and planted it firmly beneath him, lifting himself up so he could see over the counter into the kitchen-- and saw Sho, holding a slit wrist over a bowl, dripping, pouring blood into the container.

"Sho, NO! What are you--"

Kei swooned as the scent of fresh blood hit him, and the arm holding him up shook violently, lowering him as the hunger came back in waves.

"You're dying, Kei. You're dying, and I have the very thing that can save you right within my grasp," Sho said gravely. "If you think I won't use it, you're crazy."

_I'M crazy? I'M crazy, and you're the one whose arm is dripping into a bowl?_

"Sh-Sho-- I-- Sho, you can't--"

"Stop it, Kei. If you don't drink it now it'll just go to waste."

_That's true. Dammit._ "Sho-- I may not be able to stop," Kei whispered. "I don't want to hurt you... I-I don't want--"_ I don't want to kill you._

"I trust you, Kei. Even if you don't trust yourself."

Sho tied off his wrist with a strip of cloth from somewhere and picked up the bowl. He sat on the edge of Kei's couch, the deep red liquid in the bowl swirling temptingly. Kei was utterly still on the couch, his eyes glued on the bowl, refusing to move for fear of tackling the man.

Sho put the rim of the bowl to Kei's lips. "Drink."

That was all it took to remove the last of his self-control. Kei leaned forward and grasped the bowl as the edge of a cliff, downing the bowl in nearly four swallows. He proceeded to lick the bowl completely clean, catching any drips that had fallen on his face or hands. Sho sat on the couch next to him, his face pale but contented as he watched Kei devour his blood. His hands were shaking, but he smiled as he saw his friend's wounds begin to heal.

"You look better," he commented.

Kei was too absorbed in the feeling of sating that hunger to notice, but it was true: his burns were lightening to a pinkish-brown from their earlier, horribly blackened state. He lowered the bowl once there was nothing left and looked up at Sho.

"Do you need more?" he asked.

Kei considered this. "I... don't know."

The hunger that lingered in his gaze answered for him. Sho unbound his wrist from the cloth and offered it to him.

"Here."

Kei couldn't take his brightened eyes off of Sho's beautifully red wrist, but he didn't move. Sho saw his hesitation and acted for him, pressing his broken skin against Kei's mouth.

The vampire complied immediately.

Sho hissed slightly as Kei latched onto his wrist as though it were made of gold, gripping it tightly in both hands and closing his mouth over the wound. His teeth had grazed him, and Sho could feel Kei's fingers bruising the skin, making him cry out, but Kei paid no heed. He couldn't hear anything over the rush of blood.

Oh bliss, oh ecstasy! The unbelievable pleasure of a warm feed, a live host! And it was _Sho_, the Sho he raised, the Sho he cared for from childhood. Kei was lost entirely in the connection, the joy of that crimson river, the feeling of completion...

It may have been hours, it may have been minutes, but an eternity later, Kei's eyes snapped open at a soft utterance:

"_Uhn... K-Kei...?_"

Kei turned his head toward Sho-- and gasped in horror.

Sho's face was paper white in a severe contrast against his black shirt, and his eyes were half closed as his head lolled back with weakness. He was upright and swaying, but finally when his eyes closed entirely he pitched backwards, landing halfway on the couch and slipping from Kei's grasp to land sprawled on the hard floor.

"SHO!" Kei screamed, dropping to his knees beside him and pulling him into his lap. '_Oh my God, oh my God I've killed him--_'

"Uhn... mn... K...Ke...i...?" The young Japanese' hand moved a little, the fingers curling into his palm slowly.

'_Oh thank you, THANK YOU--' _ "Sho, you gotta stay awake, you hear me, don't go to sleep! Don't you die on me, Sho--"

Sho moaned and his head lolled onto his shoulder as he tried to move and failed.

'_Oh God, what am I going to do! I've gotta get him to a hospital, or a doctor or something--'_

"Hello, Sho? Kei? Anyone home?" Toshi's voice lilted through the front hallway and Kei whipped his head towards the door just as Toshi walked in on the scene: Sho lying collapsed on the floor, white as a sheet and seemingly dead with Kei hovering over him, his lips smeared with blood.

His face went pale. "Sho! What did you do to him!" Toshi slid in on his knees and snatched Sho away, saving him from who he thought was his murderer.

Kei's eyes were haunted and sorely afraid. "I-- I didn't mean to-- I-I told him we shouldn't, that it was dangerous, but he--"

"Nn... To...shi... That you...?"

"Don't worry, Sho, I'm gonna get you out of here, he can't hurt you anymore--"

Kei's heart contracted.

"Toshi." Sho's voice was forceful, or at least as forceful as it could be under the circumstances, echoing dully over the tile. He forced his eyes open long enough to give Toshi a serious stare. "Don't you dare... blame him for this... I offered... to... You hear...? ...not his... fault... hn..."

Sho's eyes slid closed and Toshi and Kei were by themselves, trying not to look at each other.

"I... have to get him to a hospital." Toshi's voice was subdued. "I'll go now and come back for you after dark. All right?"

Kei nodded numbly, his eyes still fixed on Sho's serene white face.

Toshi left with Sho draped over his shoulder, slamming the door and leaving Kei completely, utterly alone on the cold tile floor. Kei didn't get up, didn't move. The one thing he had always feared, the thing he'd always warned Sho about, had finally happened.

Kei sat down with his back against the wall, knees pulled up to his chest.

He put his head in his hands... and cried.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

See there? I am alive!

And not punctual as usual, or you would have thought someone had stolen my author's name.

I will post more later, I just haven't had ANY time recently. Next post is halfway written, so hopefully... if you review... I'll update... soon?

Em


	3. Comfort Me

Okay, I know.

I. SUCK.

I won't continue to promise sooner updates; there's no point. I do tell you truthfully, however, that I have not-- repeat NOT-- abandoned ANY of my unfinished fics. I'm currently 19, with no license, (sob).

I have just ended my job as a hibachi waitress, as I have enough money-- with the help of parents-- TO RETURN TO JAPAN! Go me! XD

I also am going to start college at a nearby place so I will still be living out of my house, with my nice, lovely, wonderful family... (Yay, more time to try and stop fighting with my mom and brother... and make my CD with my dad... sorry, I'm also working on becoming a Japanese pop/rock singer...) And this means I may have a bit more free time for writing between practice sessions.

Everyone happy? Hope so!

Well, anyway, I leave for Japan on May 11th for 6 weeks-- with my BEST FRIEND, no less! And to revisit my wonderful host family, as well as Tokyo, Kyoto, and various other places... (Also, not that y'all care, but I had and lost my first Japanese boyfriend while I was away from Masa was the first guy I had ever obsessed over, but then he got redistricted and we realized how merely hormonal our relationship was. So, we both decided to remain friends, and that's that. I may get to see him when he goes back to Kobe though...)

I shall be back June 21st. Then-- THEN-- Yes, TTHHEENN-- I go to see HYDE HIMSELF, IN CONCERT IN CALIFORNIA! WAAAAHHOOOOOO! XD XD XD (btw, Hyde is Kei's actor in the movie. Just in case someone hasn't seen it.)

Okay, enough personal author's life rambles.

On with FICTION!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**CHAPTER THREE**

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

That smell. Dear God, he hated it.

It was that mixed smell of cleaners, plastics, rubber, and bodily fluids that made him want to retch: the same smell as when their mother had died, the same smell as when Yi-Che had been attacked... Hospitals were not Son's favorite place to be. He'd been utterly shocked when a sweat-drenched, gasping Toshi had come banging on their door that evening after dinner, managing to wheeze out: "_Sho-- hospital--!_"

Son had snagged his coat from the closet and was already on his way out the door with the keys when Yi-Che had stopped him with a gentle tug on his shoulder. He'd looked at her blankly, then she'd gestured toward herself:

_I want to come._

He hadn't been sure about it at the time, but he figured it was safer to bring her with him than leave her in the apartment alone.

The nurse at the front desk had granted them visitor's passes, and said to look for Room 317. _312, 314, 315... There._ Son was a bit apprehensive, biting his lip nervously: Toshi hadn't said anything about his friend's condition.

_God, just please don't let him be mangled, or burned or anything... not while Yi-Che's here._

Taking a deep breath, Son took hold of the doorhandle and pushed down.

The door swung open.

The figure in the bed was covered with white sheets up to his chest, but what could be seen of his skin was frighteningly pale. Sho was unconscious and propped up with pillows, an oxygen mask over his face and an IV drip in his arm. A beeping noise accompanied the sound of the oxygen tank as Sho slumbered, his heart beating sluggishly, without enthusiasm. His eyes seemed sunken with dark half-circles beneath them, and his hair was unruly, loose braids spilling over slumped shoulders. His shorter hair was mussed and fuzzy.

Sho's overall condition was obviously not good, but what was more alarming was the length of bandage wrapped tightly around his wrist.

_No... He couldn't have... did he?_ Son stood staring in disbelief.

The Taiwanese approached the bed slowly, careful of a second figure that lay with his upper half draped over the covers, sitting in a chair beside Sho. The man had his head resting on Sho's knees, so diminuitive and with such a distraught air that he looked like a child in his mother's lap. Son's heart contracted as he saw pink, newly healed skin covering one of the hands on the blanket. A dark sweater, loose black pants and sandy hair confirmed it, and he lay a hand on Kei's shoulder to wake him.

He didn't even glance at the curtains.

"Hmmn..." Kei lifted his head, looking up blearily in Son's direction. His eyes were painfully red-rimmed; he'd obviously been crying. "Son," he croaked.

"I came as soon as I heard. Is he okay?" the Taiwanese asked softly.

Kei brushed at his eyes with his fingers, sitting up a little more. "He's... they don't know," Kei murmured. "He could be in a coma."

Son winced.

A brief silence befell the room.

"...I'm so sorry," Son murmured.

Kei inclined his head, acknowledging the remark, but otherwise remained fixed on Sho, his hand on top of the younger man's. Silence again. Son knew he was going to regret the next question:

"Kei? What happened to him...?"

The smaller man looked at Son with haunted eyes. "I did," he breathed in a tortured whisper. Son stared at him. "I needed blood..." Kei was near tears, swallowing painfully. "He gave it to me." The Taiwanese' eyes widened as he realized what Kei was saying. "I _told_ him, I told him no, that it wasn't safe," he continued, "and he... he took a knife, and..." a sob built in Kei's chest, "...gave me what I needed to heal."

Son watched as the man put his head in his hands. "I tried to tell him, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop once I... He didn't listen; he..." Kei choked on the words.

Son put both hands on Kei's shoulders, trying to be of some comfort. _He must feel like he _killed_ him, poor guy... _

"Did they say what chance he has for recovery?"

Kei shook his head, eyes squeezed shut. "They don't know how it works. I'm a vampire, and I fed on him. Sho became a victim, and victims aren't supposed to come back. There are repercussions..." The blond man pushed shaking palms into his eyes, hunched over Sho's lap. "God; if he... if he was gone for too long--"

There was a slight shuffle, and Yi-Che peered at him from behind her brother, walking over to him at Sho's bedside. Kei caught one glimpse of her and gasped sharply, staring in horror first at her, then at Son. His gaze turned accusing, breath caught dangerously in his throat.

"You brought her?" he whispered, terrified. "You brought her and _didn't tell me?"_ The scream spiraled up out of control. He shot up jerkily, knocking the chair backward onto the floor in a sudden outburst, staggering away from Son as if he'd just run him through. Kei slammed a bedside table into the whitewashed wall as he fell back and papers spewed everywhere, the legs collapsing with a loud bang.

"Kei--"

"Did you _want_ her to see this? Did you _want_ her to know about me? _DAMN you!_" Kei hit the wall and slid to the floor, as his energy gone. "_Damn you..._" Yi-Che was stock still, slightly startled by the abrupt explosion from the smaller man. She watched as Kei brokenly raised both hands to his face, pressing them violently into his eyes as if he never wished to see again.

Son watched helplessly as Kei curled into himself, choking. He hadn't even thought about it when he'd brought her into the room, but now he felt as if he'd just committed a mortal sin. This had hit Kei hard, and it would probably take a while before he felt up to forgiving him.

"_Damn you_," the smaller man hiccuped softly, hands grasping his sandy-coloured hair. "_Why?... Why..._" _Why can't I just have one person, just _one_, that can stay with me? That _won't_ have to die, or hate me?_

Kei felt a horrendous scream threatening to wrench from deep in his chest, tension shrieking through his body, almost to the breaking point. _Be it time, hate, or blood that takes them from me, I'm going to lose everyone--_ everyone--

A soft touch, feather-like, on his chest.

Kei gasped gently and opened tear-stained eyes to see Yi-Che's dark, pretty eyes, staring at him not with fear... but pity. She knelt beside him, looking tenderly at him as he stared, hypnotized by her sweetness. The girl waited a mere moment before reaching toward him and pulling herself onto his chest in a warm, secure hug. He jerked as though to pull away, then he felt her smile against his neck.

The vampire was speechless, thoughtless, numb.

Yi-Che knew he was a monster; she had heard him, she had understood him. Yet even now, here she was, lying on top of him in his arms, Son looking at them with only a hint of brotherly concern. Yi-Che mutely hugged him closer, nuzzling his neck with her cheek, trying to tell him without words to stop crying. For a few tense moments Kei held his arms hovering above her steady but fragile body, afraid to touch her...

Then he grasped her to him with a breath that seemed to take in as much of life as she seemed willing to give him.

_She doesn't... doesn't hate me_, he thought incredulously. _I never... ever dreamed... No, I'm still not worth this. I don't deserve her, or this... and she doesn't really know... She hasn't seen what I really am; she'd hate me if she did... but... I just can't say no... Not now._

Son let them have a good few minutes of cuddle-time, prudently turning his attention to Sho as his little sister soothed the distressed man. It was amazing to him how, even without words, she still carried such influential power over her loved ones; her family. Kei was ready to fall asleep like this, until a tiny movement came from the pale hand atop the covers.

"...Mmn...nnh...?"

The vampire looked up from his place on the floor with a snap. Kei nearly fainted from the relief. "_Sho...?" _he breathed harshly.

He was starting to wake.

Kei stood, barely pausing to remove the girl from his chest and help her up before he was at the bedside. "Sho," he urged, "Sho, wake up. Open your eyes... Sho?"

The handsome face scrunched a little, in pain, confusion or annoyance Kei couldn't tell.

"Go th' hell away," Sho slurred.

At first the vampire winced, thinking Sho was talking to him, and didn't want to see him anymore. Yi-Che put a hand on his back, relaxing him. And then Sho finished:

"...'m tryin'a sleep."

Kei let out a half-sob, half-laugh as Sho draped an arm over his face, as though trying to block out the hospital lights, rolling lazily onto his side and splaying out all over the bed, his legs sticking out from under the covers. The tall Japanese groaned as he realized how tired he was, and just how much effort lifting his arm had been. He nearly slid out of the bed when his own weight pulled him to the edge. Kei leaned forward swiftly and caught him by the arm, anchoring him back onto the mattress.

"Nn-- dammit," he cursed half-heartedly. "'feel bad... sick. Wh' happend?"

"Sho, you... don't remember?"

He moaned again, weakly. "Head hurts. Drank too much." Did he mean Kei, or did he think he had a hangover? Kei would have laughed, had the situation not been so dark. Son actually cracked a smile; Yi-Che looked a bit perplexed.

Abruptly, Sho began shivering. "Sho-- Sho, you okay?" Son ventured, touching his wrist. The tremors increased in intensity over mere seconds, nearing convulsions before dying down, and Kei grasped Sho's hand tightly, trying to calm him down.

"It's alright, Sho, just hang on; tough it out. It'll be over in a second," Kei assured him, eyes shining. His voice trembled, but his eyes were steady.

"N-no," Sho whimpered. "Wan' go home... Stinks 'n here. Wn'a go home."

"Is he alright?" Son demanded, not liking the way the usually cocky bastard was disoriented.

"Cold spells," Kei muttered. "He's feeling the after effects. I don't like leaving him here; there isn't anything else they can do to help if he's stable. I can't be here during the day." The vampire looked up at Son, his eyes holding entreaty. "We have to get him out of here."

Son looked at Sho, shivering in the hospital bed, remembering his mother and Yi-Che when they had stayed in a room similar to this.

"...I'll get the car."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Kei wasn't buckling under Sho's weight, but he was getting off-balance. Son had left after the initial drop-off, but only after Kei had requested it. He'd left feeling guilty, worried, and completely un-reassured. Sho had not looked any kind of good as Kei had half-helped, half-dragged him to the door of their apartment complex.

Kei chucked the keys into a corner and pulled Sho, still wearing his hospital gown, off of his shoulder and onto the black leather couch-bed. He fell limply onto his side on the cushions with a soft moan. He'd never felt this weak before.

"Sho, we're home," Kei offered. "Are... you hungry? Do you need anything?" He clasped his hands behind his back, still shaking. He had no idea what to do for him, or how he would feel, what he should give him. The situation was completely unfamiliar, even though he'd taken care of the younger man since he was a mere child. When Sho had caught a cold, or a fever, or even been shot, he knew how to care for him, but now he was in uncharted territory:

Kei had never left a victim alive before.

Sho seemed to be sleeping now, his breath even, eyes shut. Maybe he should just let him rest? Kei stood, making sure that Sho was really there and really okay, (and really breathing,) then he turned to the kitchen, intending to get some water to calm his nerves.

A small sound behind him made him stop in his tracks.

"...Don' go."

Kei looked behind him to see Sho's cerulean eyes glinting at him from beneath heavy lids. He smiled weakly. "Hey."

The blonde vampire sat at his side in the bend of his waist. "Hey," he attempted a smile, and failed. "Sho..."

Sho chuckled. "Don' look... li' that... Y'look like some'n died." He looked up at his friend with a cheesy smile, thinking he'd laugh. His grin disappeared when he caught sight of a single tear making its way down Kei's smooth cheek. "Kei," he trailed off, watching the drop in its descent with astonishment. Kei didn't cry. Did he?

"I..." Kei's face was expressionless, calm. "I...I almost..." He remembered Sho falling to the floor, blood smearing his arm, his eyes as the light faded away from them, his skin snow white in the darkness... It was too much. At last, the vampire's face crumpled, and he lost it completely. Kei sat on the edge of the bed sobbing into his knees, hands over his head, nearly ripping out his hair.

"Kei-- Oh, Kei, _don't--_" With a Herculean effort, Sho pulled himself up and tremulously pulled Kei up and into his chest. Kei couldn't bring himself to look at him, keeping his face lowered into Sho's shirt.

"I can't-- I just _can't_--"

"Kei, 'm still here... I'm _not_ dead, Kei... C'mon, please don' cry like that--" Sho was completely unsettled, seeing the one who had taken care of him from childhood now crying inconsolably in his arms. Sho's heart was ready to break from the look on Kei's face and the heart-wrenching sound of his friend weeping.

"I could've-- _I could've killed you,_" Kei choked. "_Oh, _God,_ I could've--_"

"Kei, stop!" Sho cried in alarm, even more distressed. "You didn't kill me! I'm right here!" Kei couldn't speak any more, he was crying so hard. Sho held him to his chest and put his head protectively on top of the vampire's. He didn't feel well; the room was starting to spin, but he'd be damned if he let go of Kei now.

"Shh, please Kei, don' cry anymore, " he pleaded softly, near tears himself. "I'm right here... I'm okay, okay?" He felt Kei shake his head vehemently against him, and tightened his grip around him.

"I don't-- I don't want to be alone again," the smaller man gasped. "I don't-- I can't... not again-- I can't... Sho--" The call for him was just so plaintive and miserable that the dam burst, and his hold on him became so strong he practically picked the smaller man up off the couch-bed, crushing Kei against him as he clung to him. Sho felt the tears burn as they fell down his face and into Kei's hair; he couldn't listen to anymore.

"Kei, just-- please, don't talk like that; don't talk like that..." he begged him softly, rocking back and forth as they both wept.

It was almost three a.m. before they were calm enough and worn out enough to sleep, the cushions soaked with both of their tears.

Sho knew they had much to discuss in the morning.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The glow of a lit cigarette was the only light in the car as Son sped away from the complex. The figure inside put his cellphone to his ear, watching as the Taiwanese drove off.

"Yeah, he left 'em here. The kid's leaving. You want me to check 'em?" Silence. "Understood. See you back at the club."

The engine turned on and he drove off, the glare of a street lamp momentarily revealing a large painted dragon on the side of the car.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**NOTE: **ATTENTION EVERYONE WHO LOVES JROCK/JPOP:

There was a contest planned for all over the USA called: "Be Your Idol to Meet Your Idol." It involved performing some song of your fave artist for one minute, either singing unacccompanied, dancing, or playing an instrument. If you won, they would fly you to Japan with a chance to meet the person you performed as.

I am a Gackt cosplayer, as you can see if you look for me on cosplay. com. I am also a musician. I SO might have had a chance, but the contest was "CANCELLED DUE TO LACK OF INTEREST."

If you people out there ARE interested, GO EMAIL THE "J-HOUSE ROCK" PEOPLE. WE NEED TO LET THEM KNOW WE ARE INTERESTED.

Thanks!

Em

(P.S. If nothing else they are trying to bring it back POSSIBLY next year. LET THEM KNOW IF YOU WANNA DO IT.)

o-o-o-o-o-o-o


	4. Dragons Waking

Okay. First things first: DON'T KILL ME!

I am finally updating; I apologize AGAIN for all delays. I got back from Japan again on the 21st of June, had two weeks of the whole : "Dear-God-America-sucks-when-do-I-get-to-live-in-Japan-I-can't-eat-anything-here-Geez-everyone-is-really-rude-and-noisy" thing, and then I got better, if only by realizing if I want to live in Japan, college is necessary first.

On this trip we went to Tokyo, (Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, Roppongi, Sumo Town, Tsukiji Fish Market, Emperial Palace, Tokyo National Museum, Edo Museum,) Hakone, Nikko, Kamakura, Oboke in Shikoku, Miyajima, Hiroshima, (Peace Memorial and Museum), Nara, Kyoto (FINALLY!), Takayama, Kanazawa, Ibara to visit a friend, and finally Matsue to see everybody from last year.

Everybody, even the people from the tea shop, remembered me, and my classmates from 19R all looked so different! At least most of them. They grew up! Awww... They all kept saying I look more adult too.

I am now persuing my goal of breaking into the Japanese music business. I am about to enter college in August, for music, so I can learn theory, cuz I suck at it, but for now the major is violin. I will switch to voice eventually. And Japanese, I'm sure.

Okay, update done. Not that anyone cares. ONWARD!

(Oh, and NO. I did NOT get to go to the Hyde concert. All my money was gone after Japan; none left for a plane ticket. ARRGH!)

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**CHAPTER FOUR**

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_A man stood in the shadows. There was a smoking gun in his hand, and he was staggering, but it didn't matter; the shot had already been fired. There was graffiti behind him of seven dragons, all intertwined, spouting flames from their nostrils. Red._

_"KEI!"_

_Someone was shouting. He could hear wailing, high-pitched with agony, and he smelled smoke. Light was flooding in from the ceiling, the walls, all around them, and he looked down to see Kei clutching at him in pain, his eyes pleading with him to get out of there, but he couldn't move; it hurt too much. His legs were numb._

_"Help him!" he screamed, looking around for someone, anyone. "Get him out of here!"_

_No one came._

_Kei cried out again, kicking violently, this time his body contorting in spasms as his blackened clothing and face began to disintegrate. He kept trying to cover himself with his hands, grabbing at his face, shoulders, stomach, but there wasn't any way to block the light. "Sho! **Sho!**" he kept yelling._

_"Sho! AGH--" _

_"**STOP THIS!**" he bellowed, lashing out at--_

"KEI!"

"Sho-- Sho! Hey!"

Blue-green eyes snapped wide. "Kei--"

Kei's sandy blonde hair was ruffled, and his eyes were slightly dark from sleep. He bore a worried expression, one hand wrapped firmly around Sho's shoulder. "Sho, it's okay," he tried telling him, laying his palm on his forehead as he laid back down, gasping for air. "You were having a nightmare. It was only a dream, Sho."

As he calmed, Sho found himself on the leather sleep couch, Kei sitting up next to him off the edge of the bed. He still wore the hospital gown, but Kei had obviously showered, changed, eaten, and apparently had a little time to nap for himself. He looked much more composed than he had earlier that night. He also had obviously never left Sho's side the entire time.

Kei's fearful eyes in that room of light refused to leave him, and Sho shuddered involuntarily. He realized abruptly that the shivering wasn't stopping, and that while he was sweat-soaked from the nightmare, he was freezing. "K-Kei, c-could we t-turn down the air in here?" he muttered. "'S s-so cold--"

Kei's eyes were on the floor. "It's a reaction from the feeding. Your energy was drained too, not just blood. You'll be weak and have dizzy spells, and it'll be very cold for a while. I'm... not sure how long. I don't really know much else."

His shivering increased, and Kei rose to fetch him a blanket from the bedroom. He came back to see Sho curled on his side, hugging himself, trying to stop the tremors.

"Here." The vampire lay the thick blanket over him, tucking the edges around him gently.

"Huh-- Y-you haven't-- t-tucked me in-- s-since I was thirteen," Sho smirked.

"That's because you flail in your sleep so much it doesn't matter if I do or don't. You always end up with at least the blanket on the floor in the morning," he snorted. "Makes me wonder how I tolerated you in the bed with me 'til you were twelve."

Sho sputtered indignantly, but then he saw the small smile on the older man's face. "Whatever. Jerk," he snorted.

Kei chuckled. "Then you had to go and get taller than me," he added, punching him lightly in the arm. "I still haven't forgiven you for that." This time Sho chuckled.

Then he winced. "Ow..." Sho's injured wrist had gotten under the pillow, and the weight of his head was making it hurt.

Kei saw what had happened and reached to replace the arm in a more comfortable position. Looking at the bandages, he saw that it was still bleeding. His heart lurched. "Sho... I am... really sor--"

"_Don't!_"

He fell silent, guilt swamping him as he carefully studied the floor.

"I told you last night. You didn't hurt me. It was as much of an accident as Son opening those curtains," Sho told him quickly, trying to get it out before the shivering made him stutter. He looked at him, almost pleadingly. "It wasn't your fault, Kei. It _wasn't_."

Kei was still riveted on the floor. His hands were balled on his knees. "I shouldn't--" Sho watched, still bundled, as Kei's knuckles went white, "--I shouldn't even be _alive_--"

The vampire gasped when Sho abruptly flew up off the sleep-couch and punched him hard across the face.

He sat there upright, still shivering, with an intense look on his features, glaring at Kei ferally as the smaller man held his cheek. Kei looked at him in shock, the entire right side of his face burning. Sho was breathing hard, staring pointedly at him, hunched over.

"Sh-Sho--"

"_Don't you ever say that again_," he snarled breathily. "Don't you _ever_ say that, Kei." His eyes were deceptively hard, but there was a shine in them that suggested more moisture than usual, and his voice broke. "You are the last person we have left. Me, Toshi-- hell, I know Shinji never really approved of you, and he always called you a monster, but-- he never understood. You're our family, Kei. We... I can't lose you, too. I can't," he finished, turning toward the wall as his voice was cut off harshly.

Kei sat looking at the wall, his cheek throbbing, and finally reached a waivering hand toward his friend. "Sho..."

"What do I have to do to make you realize how important you are, Kei?" he bit out. "I gave you my blood, my trust-- my life, even-- and you still think that you-- _you aren't_ worth _anything--_" Sho punched the wall with a loud bang, then leaned his forehead against it, huffing.

Kei stared at him, his jaw dropping open. Sho still needed him this much? He'd grown into a man from the skinny little boy in the abandoned complex. He'd taught him everything a kid on the streets of Mallepa would ever need to know. His martial arts and skill with firearms had been perfected, and even against many he held his own. Kei had assumed he didn't really need him any more, that they were simply friends and Sho happened to stay with him out of a sense of childish obligation. But this...

"Sh-Sho... I'm sorry; I never realized--"

With an abruptness that made Kei flinch, Sho whirled 'round and swung his arms around the smaller man in a crushing hug, his face buried in Kei's shoulder. "Damn it all, will you stop apologizing to me!" he gritted, and something wet soaked through Kei's shirt. "Just stop..."

Kei tentatively returned the hug, feeling very confused now as to what his take on life had become. Was he hurting people this way, by thinking he was useless? Was it worse to feel like he shouldn't exist, that he was a monster, while he was still needed? Sho's shuddering form against him should have told him that much. Kei closed his eyes, understanding how much of a change his entire perception and attitude was going to require.

He'd do it for his Sho, though. There was nothing he wouldn't do for his Sho. He'd given him his life back, after all.

_"You aren't scared?"_

_A slight shake of the boy's head. A bright smile that made him chuckle._

_Thank you, Sho. Thank you..._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Figures. Sho, when was the last time you refilled the fridge?"

"How should I know?" he mumbled.

Kei rolled his eyes. That was Sho for you. He, Toshi and Son did eat out a lot, but... this? "Fine. Look, I'm heading to the convenience store. You need to eat something, and we can't survive on two twinkies, half a can of Asahi, and," he checked, "four olives."

Sho mumbled something and rolled over to face the wall. Kei had the sneaking suspicion that Sho was exhausted, but didn't want to sleep for fear of him leaving. Or maybe doing something stupid. "You want some onigiri?" There was a little grunt that indicated a "yes". "Okay. I'll be back within the hour, okay?"

Kei opened the door, and there in front of him stood Son, his arms full of groceries.

He blinked. "Uh, hi."

Kei stared back at him for a moment. Then his face broke into a smile.

"You have excellent timing. And you're a mind reader; thanks for stopping by," he said warmly.

"Thanks for letting me in," Son remarked, trying for a little levity. "I didn't think you'd answer the door after the mess I made last time." His face told Kei that he was still seeking forgiveness for his earlier actions with the curtains.

Kei's smile was small and sad. "How could I not? You're part of the family, now. Especially if you're going to be bringing home groceries," he quipped, arching an eyebrow.

Son laughed as he walked in and set the bags down on the counter. "Well, I knew pretty boy there wouldn't be able to go get food himself, and I knew you wouldn't want to leave him in the state he's in."

"A state of annoyance, you mean?" Sho called, raising his voice from under the blanket. "Quit screeching. You're loud."

"I'm beginning to wonder if you just got a really bad hangover and became suicidally depressed," Son snorted. "At the hospital you were mumbling about drinking too much, and now my normal speech is too loud."

"You've gotten much drunker than I'll ever be," he mumbled, still grumpy. "And I have the pictures to prove it."

Son's eyes went wide.

"You're kidding."

A soft snicker floated out from under the blanket.

"SHO! Hey-- talk to me here! When did you--"

Kei watched as the two of them bickered, settling back against the counter with a soft smile: a real one, for once. It was nice to see them like this. Toshi hadn't visited since the incident, so in the past week, Sho had become quiet and moody. There was something bothering him that he wouldn't tell even Kei, and that was making him very concerned. Sho told him everything.

Except whatever was bothering him now.

"You stupid-- When did you take pictures? I... Sho? Oi, _Sho!_"

Kei looked up from his thoughts to where Son was badgering Sho on the sleep-couch. "What's wrong?"

"Sho!" He turned toward Kei, worry marring his face. "I think he's unconscious."

"It's okay, this happens sometimes," Kei sighed, running a hand through his hair. "He gets so weak from the dizzy spells and cold flashes that he passes out, sometimes for hours. The doctors won't be able to fix it, and I can't help either. It's just something that'll have to heal naturally." _Naturally. Right. What is natural about your situation, Kei?_

Son glanced back at the still form on the couch and let out a soft breath. "How long will it take?"

"Don't know. I'll let you know when he starts feeling up to walking, though," Kei offered uncertainly. "He hasn't wanted to do much since we came home."

Son studied Kei's gaunt features. "What happened to your face?"

Kei realized quickly that he was referring to the bruise Sho had left him with. "Oh-- Sho had a nightmare," he tried quickly. It _was_ the truth. Things were a bit too complicated right now, and he didn't want to go through it again with Son. He was too drained, and honestly he didn't feel all that comfortable sharing those kind of thoughts with the younger man.

"I see." Son's tone was troubled. He gave him a scrutinizing look. "You don't seem to have slept very well either."

Kei wasn't sure how to answer. "Something's bothering him," he began finally. "I can't tell what. And he seems... worried. He actually looked frightened when I-- talked to him about dying," Kei said carefully. "He actually..." A frustrated sigh. "...I don't know."

Son stared. _He always acts like such a tough guy... _"Has he said anything?"

"That's just it; he won't talk to me about it," Kei explained. "He's very self-conscious." A knowing look lit his eyes. "Can you try and get him to open up? He may very well talk to you about it."

"Sure, I'll do what I can," Son agreed. Kei looked so relieved Son thought he was going to fall over. Kei practically did, dumping himself into one of their leather chairs with a great sigh.

"Thank you. I just don't know what to do with him anymore. At least when he was little he'd come and talk to me about anything, everything..." He smirked. "Incessantly, in fact."

Son cracked a smile. "He still seems to keep you quite occupied."

Silence.

Kei looked down at the floor.

"...Are we okay... Like this? I mean, you know about me now, and..." His voice trailed off.

Son knew exactly what was bothering the shorter man. "Sho cares deeply for you," he said gently. "You're his father and his best friend, rolled into one. I'm not so stupid as to worry about you hurting him now that I know. You couldn't have raised him all these years if you were just going to turn on him and kill him in his sleep."

Kei stared at him in shock. He was right, he realized suddenly. All these years he'd been worried about turning on Sho, and suggesting that they separate so that he couldn't do anything to him. But even after all this time walking beside him, sleeping beside him, reading bedtime stories, applying band-aids, and washing braids in the bathtub, he knew he could no more harm him than he could kill himself. Without sun, anyway.

Though, his heart still lurched slightly when he thought of the pale face on the pillow at the hospital, or the lack of life in Sho's eyes when he first awoke.

Was he really that trustworthy?

"I wouldn't dwell on it, Kei, really," Son insisted, gathering his jacket onto one arm. "You need to give yourself a little more credit."

Kei smiled at him; a real smile, not a forced grimace. "Thank you."

"No problem. I'll see you later tomorrow. I need to talk to you about a job, but it can wait 'til then."

The vampire nodded. "'K. Later."

Son's final thought as he reached for his keys and shut the door behind him was to pray that they'd be able to pull off the next job without Sho.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

In a seedy-looking bar in inner Mallepa, three men in inordinately expensive suits walked in and motioned to the man behind the counter. He nodded and pressed a button beneath the bar, opening a door to the private lounge. The middle man had a scar over his left eye and thoroughly gelled black hair, and he gave the bartender a signal to shut it once they were in.

"What took you?"

Scarred Man looked into the corner where smoke was wafting out like a foreboding mist.

"What are you doing here?" he inquired, in thickly accented Mandarin. "I thought we had no more business to discuss."

"We didn't, until my men were ambushed a few days ago," a deep baritone answered back, his face hidden in shadow. The ash glowed a bright orange as he sucked in a lungful of smoke.

Scarred Man glanced at his men, letting them know it was time for them to leave. They disappeared as he'd asked.

"I was checking on your movements last week, to see if you had put us on your blacklist," he murmured. "You hadn't, but I noticed there was a younger set of Chan's people acting strangely. Kid named Son. He and his sister live near the Barracks."

"Oh, yeah," Scarred Man remembered suddenly. "One of mine had a bit of a falling out. He offed 'em for doin' his sister."

"Yeah, well," the deep voice continued, "apparently he's throwing in with a new pair. I had my guys check on it to see who's been wrecking my business." The man on the couch threw a set of polaroids onto the low table. "This group... They're a young duo who've been pulling some jobs around town. Not exactly Chan's buddies. They work solo, apparently." The photos showed a tall kid in leather with rattail braids, packing a pair of holsters. He was talking with a blonde man in a red jacket, who stood a few heads shorter than him. They seemed rather friendly toward each other.

The remaining photos showed them walking around town, looking wary, obviously trying to avoid being seen. A couple of the photos showed them buying ammo, a few more entering a pet shop and a pizza joint, all at night.

"Why are all of these nighttime shots?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We never see the guy in red during the day," the man replied, puffing another breath of smoke out over the table. "He's hard to catch. Couple times we had him cornered for a photo, he disappeared right out the shot."

Scarred Man eyed the photos with increasing interest. "Intriguing."

"We have a few guesses of what's going on with these bums, and none of 'em are very likely, but as a sign of good faith, I want you to keep an eye on them. There've been quite a few raids of random posts with the same signatures: a buncha guys drained of blood with two holes in their neck, dead, and even more shot through vital points before they could blink." The deep-voiced man's eyes narrowed in the darkness.

Scarred Man stared down at the polaroid for a few more moments before crushing the photo in his fist. "...Okay, I'll bite. Give me a week; I'll decide what to do about it. Maybe I can give them a gift befitting your lost personnel." He flexed a leather-gloved hand in anticipation. A wicked, slightly psychotic grin stretched his lips.

More grey smoke floated from the shadows. "My thanks, Long. I knew I could count on you."

The smirk widened, and Long's dark eyes fixed on the man.

"Me, or my hobbies?"

Soft, smoke-laced laughter filled the room.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Sho... Sho? Sho, wake up--"

"AAGK-- Kei! KEI!"

"Sho, I'm here!"

This time he sat bolt upright, eyes wide and unblinking, sweat pouring off of his face as he gasped. "Kei-- Kei--" He'd latched onto Kei's shirt with both fists, panting in more than just a momentary fright. Kei saw that he was utterly terrified, and it hurt.

"Sho, I am right here next to you; you don't have to worry," Kei assured him, pushing him back against the bedding, one hand laid tenderly on his soaking forehead. "Everything's fine; shh..."

"Kei-- Oh God," Sho moaned, shivering. "Your face... Kei--"

Kei watched as two tears slipped down his cheeks. "Sho, you have to tell me," he ordered. "What did you see? Did something happen to me?"

Sho shook his head. "Can't--"

"Sho, I'm not going through this charade again," Kei interrupted, squeezing Sho's hand. "What did you see? I know that something's wrong, and I know you're seeing something. Now _tell me!_"

The young Japanese' eyes were stricken. "You-- you were--" Kei watched intently as Sho's hand reached for his face, touching his cheek. He knew if Sho had been in his right mind then, he wouldn't have dared to look at him, let alone touch him.

"You were burning alive," Sho let out in a strangled whisper. "You were-- I couldn't save you. I couldn't... Oh God--"

Sho was sobbing into his hands like a child. Kei had both arms around the taller man trying to calm him, but it wasn't any use; Sho was hysterical. Whatever he had seen had scared him witless, and the images were obviously sticking with him. Sho hadn't had a nightmare this bad in years.

"Sho--"

"We were in a room," he gasped. "My legs won't work, it hurts-- you're screaming, Kei-- You're _screaming--_"

"SHO!" His hands were pressing hard over his ears, as though trying to block out the sound. Kei tried to pull his hands away from his head but he refused, sliding to the floor from the bed and hunching over.

"You were burning," he forced out, "and I couldn't stop it-- you were-- your _face-- _I_ couldn't save you--_"

Kei turned his head toward him, and slapped him. Hard. "**_SHO!_**" he screamed in his face, staring straight into his eyes. "**_Wake up!_**"

Sho stared blankly at him, confused, tears and sweat still streaming down his face. The look in his eyes was so lost.

"Sho, it is alright," Kei tried telling him. "Everything is fine." His eyes begged Sho to believe him. "It really _is_ okay." He put his hands on either side of Sho's head, and pulled his forehead down to meet his own. "It's okay."

Only later would Kei have time to ponder whether Sho calling for him nightly meant he was reverting to childlike dependency-- or if he was having a recurring dream of his death... or perhaps a premonition.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Okay, I enter college August 18th, and I have to get ready, but I like writing this, so I may actually finish it this year, or halfway through next! (Aren't I optimistic? )

See you all next chappie! Let me know you still like it and I WILL post sooner.

P.S. OKAY, Soumanyon, I have posted TWO chapters, and you have still done nothing for yours! C'mon! LET'S SEE SOME RESULTS! YOU'RE KILLING ME! (dies)


	5. The Noose Tightens

This chapter is dedicated to all the hardworking people going through tough times at home. Especially the ones who fill their free time with Jrock fanfiction.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**CHAPTER 5**

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A week had passed.

Sho's condition did not improve, although the nightmares seemed to have leveled off somewhat. Kei was practically going out of his mind with worry. His (once) little Sho was suffering nightly with nothing to be done about the situation. Before Sho's Incident (as it was referred to now), the gang raids hadn't been bringing in quite enough cash, which meant that they'd had slimmer monetary pickings, but now things were serious.

It had been weeks since Kei had pulled a raid. The rent hadn't been paid in a long while, as much of their recent funds had gone toward Sho's hospital bills. Medical supplies were absurdly priced in dirty, run down places like the Mallepan Barracks, where doctors could do as they wished without interference from the government. The hospital had taken them for everything they had.

Son and Toshi were feeling it too; Chan had been stationing his groups of thugs strategically and carefully around the inner parts of the city. Too many of his men had been ambushed and obliterated by this new mystery pair, so extra precautions were taken. It had become much harder to surprise the gangs, and even harder to escape without being caught or seen; Son had nearly gotten his nose shaved off by a barrage of bullets. Both pizza boy and gunman had taken to stealing money from gang members much like they had as children: simple smash-and-grab jobs. It was humiliating but necessary; two men couldn't take on an entire army of henchmen by themselves.

Kei felt terrible about leaving his friends in the lurch like this, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Sho alone in the apartment; he'd probably wake up, find him gone and have an aneurism or meltdown.

The morning sun rose higher, and Kei lowered the shades (newly installed with the drapes) just in time to miss the pink shafts of light hitting the windowsill. He peered at the couch where Sho lay fast asleep, making sure he hadn't seen; any mention of Kei with the word 'sun' and he went back into panicked fits.

Kei found that he was hungry again, but not starving. Sho's contribution had sated him for a long while, but healing had depleted much of it to the point that he was back at his normal level of want. Fortunately hunger was something he'd learned to ignore, given he was strong enough, and there were some beverages in existence that helped soothe the ache in his belly.

Beer was most definitely one of them.

Reaching into the fridge and pulling out a bottle of Kirin, the vampire popped the lid with his fangs and spat the metal top expertly into the garbage. Kei dropped down with a contented sigh onto the soft leather couch, letting himself sink into it and taking a mouthful of the heavy drink. It felt good on his throat and tongue, the richness of it distracting him. The living room was pleasantly warm; he purposefully kept it that way for Sho, but it really did feel good.

The vampire was relaxed, for the first time in weeks. He felt his eyelids pulled shut by a pleasant drowsiness as warmth and darkness took him in...

Sleep.

Relief was short-lived.

**BRRRRRRING BRING BRINGGGGGG!!**

"AH!!" Kei yelped aloud, almost spilling his beer as the doorbell was repeatedly and violently abused. _Who in the--?_

He was only clad in a tank top and pants, hardly good enough for answering the door, but the banging and ringing said that whoever was outside meant business. Bewildered, the man set his bottle down and made his way carefully down the hallway, still shaking from the adrenaline rush.

_What now?!_

The lock clicked open and there in the doorway, looking extremely upset-- and possibly homicidal-- was Mr. Park, the landlord.

Kei's blood ran cold.

Mr. Park was a balding, pot-bellied Korean who barely spoke Cantonese well enough to communicate with his tenants. He had no love for Japanese street-rats who paid almost yearly, and certainly not for the ones who had been waking him nightly with Sho's uncontrollable screaming.

He was also close to six-and-a-half feet tall.

The man was intimidating, to say the least, and they'd been dealing with him and his shouting about the rent for months. Now he stood eyeing Kei with a very pissed-off look on his face, his greasy white undershirt bulging with his girth.

"You're still late wi' rent, and dat fackin' boy's still keep me up ol night!!" Park's guttural Chinese forced its way up out of smoke-tattered lungs. "You pay now or I send you oudt!!"

Kei wasn't sure what to do.

"Uh, I'm-- sorry Mr. Park, I don't have anything to pay with now-- and I keep trying to make him stop," he stammered, looking up uncertainly at the taller man. "He can't help it; he has nightmares--"

"_It's no' my business what you do wi' da' boy aftar hours! You gag him up from now on!_" Park thundered, eyes watering and veins popping on his neck from the force of his shouting. "_If you no pay up right now, Jap, I'll give _you_ nightmares from here to next week! Now_ _**giv' me my money!!**_"

Kei flinched, eyes fixed on the dirty concrete floor, suddenly looking rather small and beaten down. Park had never liked the attention they'd gotten because of their looks and automatically assumed the worst about two Japanese men living together. He probably thought they were prostitutes or something similarly unsavoury. At any other time the man's ranting would have been deemed ludicrous, and he'd simply have yelled at Park to back off and get out of his face. It might even have been funny.

But with the stress of the past few weeks and the hard truth of their penniless state upon him, Kei found it impossible to take the man's threats lightly.

"I, uh-- right," he mumbled. "Just a moment--"

The blond rushed back inside, slamming the door in Park's face and searching frantically for something to use as collateral so the man wouldn't start making good on his promises. If he threw them out now, neither of them would get very far; it was bright and sunny out and Sho was still too weak to be going outside, especially in the current chill. More banging ensued with threats of boiling oil and other strange torture devices.

"Coming!" Kei called, frantically combing the drawers for something, anything. The pounding grew louder and Kei felt fear building in his gut. He may have been a vampire, but Park was an extremely volatile man and he was getting angrier:

"_You're not make me wait no more for dis! You're alreddy six mont' late! You're pay now or I beat it oudda you!!_"

There was a thump and his hand bumped something heavy deep inside the drawer. His heart stopped as a glimmer of silver shone up at him.

Sho's pistols.

_Oh God... not that, _anything _but--_

Kei jumped as the banging finished with one last cement-shattering hit and the landlord lost it completely, trying to shoulder his way into the apartment. Sho was beginning to stir on the sleep-couch and the bolt was two splinters away from falling off entirely. He had no choice; it was either this or they were homeless.

The vampire drew both guns from their holsters, removed the clips and ran back to the door. Park was still screaming:

"_YOU GE' BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, YOU LITTLE RUNT!! I'M GONNA--_"

Kei flung the door open, panting. "Will these do for now?" he asked, his eyes desperate.

Park did a double-take at the sight of the shiny, expensive weapons. He could see the wheels in the man's brain coming to a grinding halt. Perhaps a little more persuation would be necessary until he comprehended the payment. Kei swallowed, trying not to let his voice waiver as he spoke.

"I can pay you back the rest in a few weeks; if you can give me a little--"

The blond man cringed as Park snatched the guns from him and examined them thoroughly. His landlord was still fuming, but on slow-burn.

"This is good for start, but I won't take dis from you no more, kid," he growled, pocketing the pistols. "If you no' pay me my money I can allays get new tentands--"

"Please, Mr. Park, it isn't that much; the guns should cover--"

Park went off.

"_YOU THINK YOU CAN CHEAT ME OU' MY RENT?!_" he bellowed, slamming his hand on the door frame at Kei's diminutive eye level, startling him back into the cement. "_YOU COME DOWN TO DA OFFICE WI' ME AND I'LL SHOW YOU HOW MUCH YOU STILL OWE ME! YOU FACKIN' JAPANESE BUMS, ALLAYS CHEATING ME--_"

As he spoke, the Korean grabbed Kei's arm in his beefy hand and dragged him out of the apartment, toward the stairs. He was taking him outside.

Kei freaked.

"No! No! Let me go, you don't under--! Let me go!" he yelled, attempting to ward him off, but the landlord wasn't listening, ranting on and on--

"_I HAVE ALL YOUR BILLS! I CAN SHOW YOU--_"

Kei exploded, vibrating with the force of his shrill protest:

"_**Let GO OF ME!!**_"

Bright eyes flashed red; the blond ripped himself out of Park's grasp just in time to see the shaft of sunlight shooting out from the direction of the open air staircase, searing the skin of his hand straight through to the bone. A shriek vaulted from deep in his gut and he stumbled away from the man, out of range of the light.

Kei rocked backward into the wall, cradling his arm and shivering wildly as Park stood gaping in confusion.

"Wha-- wha' was...?" the Korean muttered, glancing back and forth from Kei to the stairs.

"Please," the blond gasped. "I can pay-- I'll pay, just-- give me a little more time-- a week, just one week--"

Mr. Park seemed to be taken aback at what he wasn't even sure he'd seen, and his tenant was literally begging. A few pregnant moments flitted by, then finally the man backed away down the hall, giving Kei one last uncertain look as he disappeared to his own floor.

"One week," Park muttered. "You godt more problems dan I thought, kid."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Outside the apartment complex, two men in a dingy old Camaro were sprawled belligerently in their seats, waiting for their targets to move. Cameras were set and waiting for the latest glimpse of the pair rumoured to be hitting their boss's turf. A total of five cigarettes were scattered wantonly across the gravel parking lot from each of the open windows, crushed and spent.

"Is he sure these bozos are responsible?" one complained, jamming his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "This can't be legit; the dude can't even keep his apartment guy from comin' after him."

"Shut your trap and gimme the damn camera," the second yawned, shaking a head of colorful hair that spiked in several directions. "Sooner we get the photos, 'sooner the boss lets us get outta here. I ain't getting up at the crack a' dawn again for nobody."

The leather-clad man raised a pair of old-fashioned binoculars to where Kei was getting reamed by his landlord.

"Damn. Wouldn't wanna be in his shoes. Last guy I knew that lived there, didn't make it to two months' rent. Dude wound up splattered all over the pavement from his window. Cops said it was suicide-- yeah, right, and I'm a fairy," he muttered sarcastically.

"You know some messed-up people, if you ask me."

"Shh, the landy's leavin'."

The huge Korean was still screaming, but now he was heading downstairs. At first Spikey-Haired Man thought that he was just ranting to himself to vent, but then Kei's arm came into view, along with the rest of him, and he started screaming at the top of his lungs. He thought he could make out some of it, stuff like 'no, let me go''.

"Hey-- somethin's up."

"Hm?"

"The landlord's taking him downstairs, but-- damn, he must really owe a lotta cash; he's acting like the guy's gonna kill him or som--"

Kei's next yell could be heard clearly by both of them:

"_**Let**__**GO OF ME!!**_"

There was a high-pitched scream of pain and Spikey-Haired Man's eyes went wide. His binoculars lowered in shock. Did he just see what he thought he saw? Putting the lenses back against his eyes, the gangster stared in disbelief as smoke drifted into his line of vision from the direction of the small man. It was still rising in a thin white line, and the landlord's expression was about as befuddled as he was.

"So what happened?" Leather Man prodded. "Dude, let me use those things-- Come on, spill it!"

A hard shove from beside him brought the man to his senses enough for an explanation.

"He... he burned," he said confusedly.

"What, the guy burned him with a lighter?" His partner was starting another cigarette as he talked.

"No, he just... burned. Like he stuck his hand in a fire, only..."

Leather Man growled, exasperated. "What?! _Tell_ me somethin', man! What happened?!"

Spikey-Haired Man dropped the binoculars into his lap, his eyes dark and troubled. Maybe the bosses had been right. "...Sun," the man muttered incredulously. "He burned from being in the sun."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Kei slid down the wall with a sigh of relief as the landlord's footsteps faded away. Looking down with half-lidded eyes, he saw that smoke was still rising from the triangular burn on the back of his hand.

That had been way too close.

Guilt made him choke on his own breath as his head fell forward onto his hands. He couldn't believe it; how could he have let that happen? Thinking of what he'd just done nearly made him cry. _Those were Sho's pistols. Sho's! _Never before had they needed to give up their possessions to keep their heads above water, and now he'd just given the man Sho's most prized possessions. With any luck he'd find them at a local pawn shop, but still...

"_Kei?_" Sho's voice called weakly from inside the open door. "_Kei..._"

Kei shut his eyes in despair.

A lone tear dropped onto his hand, and he wiped his face as he rose, going inside. "Coming," the vampire murmured, shutting the door behind him and trying to still his shuddering body. He didn't want Sho to see how upset he'd become; he didn't need that in his condition.

_You can do this. For Sho, you can do this..._

Forcing his eyes to stay dry, Kei smiled softly as Sho's blue-green orbs peeked out at him from under the blanket. He sat down gently on the sleep-couch, taking advantage of the space Sho had given him. "Hey," he nudged his fuzzy-headed patient. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better," Sho admitted, stretching a little and experimentally flexing his arm. "What was that all about? I heard yelling... It wasn't Park, was it?" The young man's nose wrinkled in disgust.

"You bet," he joked, trying to sound nonchalant. "The bastard was still screeching about his rent. I got us a little more time."

"Good," Sho snorted. "Jerk needs to be taught a lesson anyway."

Kei kept his hand carefully concealed beneath the edge of the blanket. He felt his throat tightening.

"...Do you mind if I nap with you for a little while?" he said hoarsely.

"Huh? No, 'course not," Sho replied, confused. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, 'm fine."

Scooting backwards, Sho let Kei onto the couch and covered him with the blanket, letting his back rest against the wall and Kei's back rest against him. Feeling Sho's warmth and light fingers resting on his shoulder, Kei exhaled deeply and let himself sink into the younger man's presence. He needed some reassurance after Park's stunt, even if Sho didn't realize what he was doing for him.

"'M glad... you're feeling better," Kei murmured, sleep already sweeping over him.

"Me too," Sho replied, resting his forehead against Kei's lengthy hair. He toyed with it a little, brushing a few strands aside that were tickling his nose. Sho chuckled. "You need a haircut, Kei. Either that or you should get some braids like mine going; this mess is gonna be one giant knot soon."

Kei smiled with closed eyes, oblivious.

"Mm-hm... sounds good."

Sho snickered as Kei dozed off beside him, watching the blond's frail figure go still and his breath even out.

_Probably doesn't even realize what he agreed to_, he thought wickedly. His mirth diminished at the feel of something warm and wet on the skin of his arm under Kei's head. He was puzzled for a moment, then it hit him and a sharp sympathy pain went through his gut. Kei was crying again.

"Oh, Kei," Sho whispered guiltily.

_I'm so sorry. You've been through hell with this shit, haven't you? Taking care of me... _The smaller man was already asleep. Sho stroked the hair over his friend's ear, caressing the skin of his cheek with his thumb, trying to be soothing.

"It's okay," he said softly, half to himself. "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you, Kei, ever. Not ever."

Outside the day dawned, and the apartment stayed dim and quiet until nightfall.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Kei organized a mini dinner-party with his friends the next night.

Toshi had brought pizza, Son had brought some rice and a salad, (which sat untouched on the counter), while Kei had supplied the beer. They had agreed to meet around ten, and it was well past midnight before any real talking started. The lamps were lit and half the hues of the rainbow crept in a curved line across the walls, just touching Toshi's feet where they rested on the end table. Kei wanted to tell him to stop putting his feet on their furniture, but that required argumentative energy that he just didn't have in him at the moment.

"So how is Yi-Che doing?" Kei inquired of Son instead, settling in beside him on the couch.

"Fine. She wants to come visit at some point. I told her she should wait until Sho is feeling up to having guests, but she just pouted when I said that. I think the indication was 'well, you're going over!" Son replied, amused at the memory. "She's gotten real testy lately. Can't imagine why." The last phrase was utterly sardonic.

"Glad to hear she's doing well," Kei said thoughtfully. "I figured I had freaked her out pretty badly after our last-- whatever that was."

"Nah, she's been through worse," Son dismissed him, sipping his beer. "Yi-Che is a strong woman. Toshi, throw me a cigarette, would you?"

"What'll ya give me for it?"

"Your perfect, unbruised face."

"Fair trade. Catch," Toshi threw the tiny cylinder across the room from where he was sprawled out over the rug, his hat over his eyes.

Son had to lean forward a little, but he caught it and sighed.

"Lighter?"

"That'll be extra."

With a slight _plip!_ Son splattered a large dollop of beer onto the pizza boy's hat, smirking as he did so.

"There. More than fair. Now cough up that lighter before I tip you. Literally."

Toshi was still sputtering from the liquid that had seeped into the holes in his cap, trying to get up off the floor.

"All right, all right, gimme a sec--"

Kei was leaning back in his seat, watching with a tired half-smile. His hair was unkempt and his eyes were dark. Son noticed from the moment they entered that Kei was completely drained, but he chose not to say anything until the vampire decided to speak for himself. Sho was asleep for the moment; he'd been up long enough to say hi and bye before dropping off the face of the earth under his covers again.

Kei seemed to be relaxing for the time being. Son couldn't bring himself ruin it with questions.

Lighting his cigarette, the Taiwanese looked up at Kei and exhaled a lungful of smoke.

"So, you mentioned you wanted in on our next job?" Son ventured.

Kei nodded. "I need to get the rent going and fast. The landlord is getting, shall we say, adamant about his dues."

Son merely looked at him, his expression shuttered. Around here, angry landlords could mean gutters, hospitals and even bodybags if alcohol was involved in the coercion. Kei had chosen his words carefully and he noticed a bandage around the blond's wrist, but if Kei wasn't going to say anything, then fine; he'd leave the man to his own business.

"How much we talking?" Son asked casually.

"At least twice as much as last time. Sho's bills wiped me out," he admitted, a little shamefaced.

Son grunted in sympathy. "Gotcha. Luckily for all of us, I think I have a sizable job coming, one that should work for you... might even be able to pull it off by yourself. There's a shipment of tobacco, medicines, illegal drugs-- you name it-- arriving at the western dock in about two days. Got it on the highest authority that it's illegitimate, meaning you can take all you want and it won't be missed by honest people," Son added. "Plus there's a good chance they'll be low on staff. We'll be taking the east side holds where most of the gangs will be waiting to receive the shipment, so if you're quiet until your job's done, the ruckus at the end will get rid of most of our guys as well."

"Any chance of police involvement? Chan?"

"Not a chance. They don't even know the ship is coming. It's a new group, some hot new gang from Hong Kong. Not Triads, but something of similar standing. Don't worry; the money's good, but something like this probably won't attract too much attention," Son shrugged. "Small fish, but big enough to fill our stomachs."

Kei considered.

"I can make it in and out without being noticed. I should be able to wreak some havoc too, if it's like any other delivery ship; good distractions available. Guns?"

"The usual. Not that you need to know that," the man said wistfully. "Wish I could dodge bullets. Damn yakuza nearly took off my--"

"What do we tell Sho?" Toshi piped up, concern dominating his flippant face as he took a drag from his cigarette. "Will he be cool here by himself?"

Kei tried to appear matter-of-fact while his stomach roiled with apprehension.

"He won't like it if I leave, but I have to. We can't just live off cigarettes and booze," he said carefully.

"Oh!" Son was nodding as if agreeing with him, then froze in mid-nod, as if he'd just remembered something, nearly dropping his bottle. "Wait-- Yi-Che!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Kei, do you want me to bring Yi-Che here? She could watch Sho until you get back, keep him busy, make sure he's got everything he needs-- she wouldn't mind, I know she wouldn't!"

Kei paled at the thought of her coming, but calmed quickly, trying to rationlize the suggestion.

Yi-Che was very capable, and Sho trusted her as much as he trusted him. It would be easy to say that he'd just been hanging out with the guys that night to get out of the house, and it wasn't as if Yi-Che could tell Sho where they'd gone; she wouldn't know either...

Son was staring at him for some sort of acknowledgment, hopeful and apprehensive. After some thought, Kei gave in. "Fine," he sighed. "Bring her here that afternoon and ask her to watch him for me. Let her know he might have nightmares and that he gets violent on occasion, but if she wakes him he'll come out of it."

Son hooted and threw an arm around Kei's neck, exultant. "Great! You won't regret it, buddy; Yi-Che will take care of everything."

"So we're going back out?" Toshi couldn't contain himself. "We're finally doing a full-blown raid?"

"Looks like," Son confirmed. Laughing, the younger man slapped Kei on the back, giddy from booze and lucrative prospects. "It'll be like starting from square one-- I can't remember the last raid I did with you. We started splitting into pairs right before this, didn't we? It's been weeks, months!

"I know. It'll be good to be back," Kei smiled, shrugging Son's hand away and following up with a playful smack of his own. His words turned sincere, saturated with gratitude. "Thanks, you guys. Really. I needed this."

The Taiwanese smiled knowingly, giving him their trademark finger-to-nose V signal.

"Straight up. We'll always help you out, Kei; don't worry 'bout it."

"Yeah, of course we will," Toshi chirped. "This just means you're buying dinner from here until doomsday, so we're good with it."

Son poured the rest of his beer directly onto Toshi's head.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Midnight. How corny is that?_

Kei wrapped himself tighter in his thick red coat.

It was drizzling, the smell of wet asphalt and inner-city smog saturating the scene. The ship had arrived on time (for once) and the docking time had been scheduled for twelve. Darkness was sliced into four by the bright white signal lights glowing from the deck, and five people were uncoiling ropes to throw onto the pier. The unloading process would begin any moment.

Three more men called to the gangsters on the boat, giving them the all-clear as boxes were thrown haphazardly onto the deck, marked with red dragons and the kanji for seven. Kei poked his head out from behind the wall, casting a streetlight shadow onto the road beside him, observing their actions.

_No sign of guns... There are more inside; I can hear them. No sign of large groups though... Hope Son can deal with the rest of them._

The symbols on the sides of the boxes stuck out in Kei's mind. He would remember such a gaudy symbol if previous gangs had used it, but nothing was coming to mind.

_I wish Toshi were here_, Kei thought grouchily. _He and Sho know all the gang symbols, tattoos... They practically research 'em. Probably so they don't make one similar to the other guys' when they think up theirs_.

More boxes were coming and now plank boards were being lowered to distribute the shipment. Kei smelled strong herbs coming from the crates, but nothing remotely like the usual drugs. Two armed thugs who should have been guarding their comrades were helping them prep the dock and two more were idly sitting on the boxes. Another pair of men came from below deck and the two groups started shouting in Chinese.

Unsettling sickness took root in Kei's gut. Something didn't smell right.

"_I'm not turning this shit over to you without clearance from the boss!_" one man yelled from the boat. "_How do we know you're our clients?_"

_Clients?_

"_I already told you, jackass, we've got the goods!_" someone answered. "_Take a minute to check the boxes and you'll know if it's us!_"

Kei was really spooked now.

The dialogue sounded forced, as if it'd been rehearsed and they were trying to carry the sound as far as it would go. The boxes were brilliantly and blatantly marked, and the spotlights from the ship itself were far too bright for a group carrying out an underground op.

Why were there only twenty or so men unloading a giant boatload of illegal imports?

_This isn't right..._

"Here! _Here!!_"

Kei jumped. Someone had seen him in the alley and was alerting the others. Shit, why hadn't he heard them?

A group of twelve men armed with uzis came barreling from around the corner, shouting inane insults and calling for backup. Kei picked up the sound of a radio behind him, telling someone that the target had arrived. Kei's heart leapt into his throat. The whole thing had been one giant setup. Damn it, he had always said they wouldn't be able to operate like this without someone taking notice!

Three of the thugs opened fire but Kei was already gone, leaping the height of the building and landing on the roof. He hit the ground running.

_I've got to get to Son and Toshi_, the blond man mused with dawning horror. Below him, shouts and angry orders came from everywhere; at least thirty more men had come out of the woodwork and were locking the place down:

"_He's on the roof!_"

"_Get up there! You three, come with me--_"

"_Don't let him leave the building!_"

"_Hold your positions--_"

Then suddenly, another voice, much closer this time: "Freeze, asshole!"

Kei skidded in the gravel beneath his feet, whipping around to see a giant, gas-powered rifle pointed at his forehead (1). The skin-headed yakuza holding it looked ready to waste him, shaking but intense and focused, not wavering for a moment.

"Don't move! Put your hands on your head!"

_He hasn't pulled the trigger; that means they want me alive. Good, makes things easier_.

Kei raised his hands slowly, keeping them at ear level, close to his body.

"Now get down on the ground-- _Down on the ground!_" (2)

Kei leaned forward, as if to comply-- then slammed the gun with the sides of his hands, twisting it away from his head and out of the man's grasp just as he pulled the trigger. The recoil popped the henchman in the jaw and sent him reeling, spittle flying from his mouth as he hit the ground. Strands of blond hair floated through the air where the bullet had singed his hair.

"_Gunfire!_"

"_Did we get him?!_"

"_What happened?! Is he alive?!_"

Silently, Kei swung himself over the side of the roof just as searchlights flared to life as slid down the drainpipe to the street below.

_Goddamn yakuza_.

More were coming from both directions, tapping weaponry resounding on concrete. He took off in the direction of the warehouse, a red blur to any who saw him pass, practically swinging around the corner with one hand gripping the edge of the building as he rushed to Son's aid.

"_Kei! KEI!!_"

Toshi was screaming, and he heard the singing of butterfly blades in his sharp ears.

_Bastards--! _

Gunshots resounded from inside as Kei simultaneously smashed through the window, sending sheets of shattered glass pouring over the thugs as he toppled inside and rushed the man closest to him.

He was silent after three seconds.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A spotless hotel in the business district held one lone figure in the bowels of its lobby.

Long was perched on the arm of a chair in the waiting room, watching the closed doors for when the seven most powerful men in the territory would emerge from their private discourse. The scarred man looked was though contemplating ways to torture the doors into submission and hear them beg for mercy.

Someday he'd be the only one behind those walls.

That thought always made him smile.

A pulsing electronic tone came from somewhere on his person and a sleek black cell phone was drawn from his jacket pocket.

"Yes."

A few moments of low buzzing from the device and Long's chapped lips pursed in displeasure. Only his personal guards knew how dangerous that look was. The last time that face had been made, half of Long's men had disappeared and weeks later the news had mentioned a finger having been found in a trash compactor-- three countries to the west. When asked, it was said that the men had been given an indefinite vacation.

"Fine. I'll be back after the meeting. Get my clothes ready. And-- deal with them, please. No ship, no witnesses."

A quiet, frightened affirmative.

The cell phone snapped shut and slid out of sight beneath a patch of dark cloth at his breast. Onyx eyes were cool and contemplative as he drew in a breath from his cigarette, pulling in more and more until the glowing ash was burning his fingers.

He didn't bother to extinguish it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Yi-Che had both hands to her mouth when the boys came through the door in a hurricane of raised, rapid voices:

"Goddammit! Why is it always my _leg?!_" Son raged, leaning on Kei for support. "Bastards!"

"Toshi, get the door--"

Toshi was none the worse for wear save for a few scrapes and bruises, but he was shaken; Two men had been about to jam a knife into his throat and stomach when Kei had come bursting in like a whirlwind, taking out man after man until there were only a handful left. He'd even taken a bullet in the forearm and shoulder for the two of them, shoving the yakuza aside and disabling the guns with one shot.

The blond man was pale and trembling, but bright-eyed. Kei was like a beast protecting it's pack, and now that he had Son and Toshi under his care, he'd suddenly snapped into the mode of protector.

Yi-Che was hesitant to approach him at the look in his eyes.

"Get me some gauze please, Yi-Chi," Kei requested, his voice surprisingly gentler than his hardened stare.

The girl nodded heistantly and went to fetch the medical kit. Kei helped Son sit stiffly on the coffee table, stretching his bad leg out before him. "Sorry for the mess," Son offered pitifully. "You can't get blood out of carpets without a miracle. I'll pay for them later--"

Kei cut him off with a shake of his head. "No way on this rock are you ever going to pay me for bloodied carpets," Kei stated firmly, eyeing the wound with both distaste and interest. "Once we get the money back that we should have gotten from this failed gig, you and I will have more than enough to buy our own carpets. Here."

Son took Kei's proffered hand towel and pressed it firmly against the wound to stop the bleeding. The man's leg twitched in more than just discomfort. "_Urgh_-- yeah, well, at any rate-- why were those guys waiting for us?" Son griped. "They can't have loaded that entire boat just to ambush us, I _saw_ all those drugs--"

"But they _did_," Toshi barged in, white as a sheet. Terrified brown eyes met Kei's own. "They did, didn't they, Kei? That whole thing was a setup for _us_."

"Yes," Kei said slowly. "I don't know if they were looking for us specifically; We're usually pretty random with our choice of raids. But they definitely knew someone was coming."

Toshi's face drained, and he sank slowly down onto the couch, his baseball cap grasped tightly between both hands.

"What if-- what if they've been watching us all this time?" Toshi stammered, wide eyes beginning to glaze with fear. "What if they know about you, Kei? What if they know where we live? If they decide to scratch us off their hit list in broad daylight, we'll be history!" His voice was uncharacteristically shrill. "What if they send an assassin after us?!"

Kei rolled his eyes.

"Toshi--"

It was no use; the pizza boy was freaking out: "Nuh-uh, man, this is too weird! They're willing to stage a whole boatload of drugs to lure us in, now they could be anywhere! _Shit_-- what if they followed us home?! They could be out there just waiting to take a piece out of us! Oh man, you guys, we gotta get _outta_ here!"

"Toshi!" Kei admonished him, motioning toward the bedroom door.

The younger man had the decency to look ashamed at his outburst, remembering that Sho was still asleep in the back room. Yi-Che had already fled to the bedroom to check on her patient when Toshi had begun his little fit. Son was too busy with his leg to care about the man's shouting, but he half-winced in gratitude at the sudden lack of noise; his head was hurting him.

"I don't think we were followed," Kei reassured him, making calming motions with his hands. "I didn't see anyone and no one from the warehouse got away. They would have been visible if they'd trailed us. Don't you think at least _I_ would have heard something?"

That did make sense, Toshi supposed.

He opened his mouth to agree with the vampire, but was interrupted by a blood-curdling cry from the next room:

"_No! DON'T--!_"

Toshi and Son exchanged startled looks.

"Sho," Kei murmured, alarmed.

The blond man shot up off the couch, dropping the roll of white bandages to race into the back room. Yi-Che's hair went up in a cloud from the wind he created, and she cringed away from Kei as he shoved the door open and practically fell inside, hitting the foot of the bed with a jolt.

"Sho?!"

Blindly thrashing to escape the sheets, Sho was screaming as if he were being tortured, terror written all over his face, flipping this way and that in his struggle to fend off his attackers. Kei knew from the sound of his cries that this time, it wasn't _his_ death Sho was dreaming of.

Sho shouted out incoherently and Kei was broken from his trancelike state, rushing to still the young Japanese' flailing limbs.

"Sho!" he cried. "Sho, wake up! It isn't real Sho, it's not real! _Wake up!!_"

"Get away--! _Get AWAY--_"

"SHO!!"

Toshi and Son listened uncomfortably from the living room as Kei attempted to soothe Sho back into some semblance of calm. Their comrade was clearly and quite painfully terrified, and the childlike screams of fear gave them heavy, nauseating pangs of sympathy in both of their stomachs.

"Whoa," Son muttered.

"Yeah," Toshi agreed, disbelieving.

The two men sat in uncomfortable silence, listening to the struggle going on behind them with eyes fixed on the floor. After an eternity of racket and empty words, Kei emerged from the back room sporting a black eye and the most exhausted, defeated expression Son had ever seen.

"Sedative," Kei croaked.

Yi-che helped lead him to the sofa, where he collapsed into the seat as if his legs had disappeared from under him. The woman looked disturbed but thoroughly concerned as Kei rubbed his face with both hands. They were silent awhile.

"Is-- is it always like this?" Son asked, stunned.

"Not always," Kei muttered breathily, as if he couldn't catch enough air. "Often, though. _Very_ often..."

Son watched helplessly as Kei's defenses crumbled into dust.

"I try-- I try so hard not to let him see," Kei hiccuped, tears beginning to accumulate at the corners of his scrunched eyes. "I don't want to make him worry or be unhappy but-- It's no good-- I-- I had to sell his _guns_ to keep us from losing the apartment today--" The blond leaned forward onto his knees, clutching his head in both hands. "I can't care for him anymore, Son-- I can't help-- God_, I can't even--_"

The Taiwanese couldn't sit and listen without doing something.

Dragging himself over toward Kei's end of the couch, Son put a hand on the man's shaking back, giving him a sense of warmth and comfort. "Hey," he murmured. "Come on, Kei, you've done great with him. You took care of him for years, it's just gotten a little more difficult for now--"

"Because of what _I_ did to him!" Kei ground out, droplets spattering the coffee table. "It's my fault that he's like this--"

"_HEY!_" Son shouted abruptly, cutting the vampire off before he had a chance to condemn himself further. Kei went silent, but was obviously continuing to brood as the injured man spoke:

"This gift-- this thing Sho did for you was to keep you alive because he thought you were worth it," Son insisted, tugging at Kei's sleeve until he faced him. "You are his friend, guardian, parent, confidant-- you name it, that's what you are to him. Sho doesn't want you to beat yourself up like this, Kei, it isn't healthy! _Nobody's_ proud of all the things they've done, but dammit, some of us learn to appreciate the good things! from what I heard, Sho and Toshi would still be living in the street if you hadn't come along!"

Toshi's eyes lowered.

Son's words were coming harshly now, as he built up a head of righteous steam: "You," Son growled, glaring at Kei with all the conviction of an evangelist, "need to give Sho a little more credit than that."

Kei started in surprise, staring.

"If Sho was willing to do something like that, and you love him as much as you _claim_ you do, don't you think you should take his feelings to heart?"

The blond was gaping now, streaks of tears rolling down his face, forgotten as he stared at Son. The tension was palpable as Kei gathered his wits about him, eyes locked with Son's. He regained his voice just enough to speak up for himself, a tiny spark of anger flaring:

"I... haven't been thinking about Sho? Is that what you're saying?" Kei asked softly. His hands were wrapped reflexively around his knees, clawlike. "You think you know everything already just because of a little explanation, don't you? Things have happened, Son, things that you really don't want to know about. I've been reasoning with myself, praying for a way to keep all of us going, and even now, I still--" He couldn't finish, choosing instead to rephrase the rebuttal:

"If you want the truth, then here, take this to heart..."

Kei's voice was as dead and heavy as a piece of granite:

"...If anything ever happened to Sho, I will tell you right now that I would no longer be here."

Son started to refute him, but then he saw Kei's eyes. He was silent. Yi-Che glanced from her brother to Kei, waiting for someone to speak.

As if timed by some unseen force, the doorbell chose that exact moment to ring.

All three of them jumped. "Dammit, what do they want now?!" Son griped, ready to swing his bad leg off the couch and beat whoever it was to a bloody pulp with it. "The guy just said you had a week, didn't he?!"

"It's not Park," Kei interrupted, eyes going yellow and focusing in on the door. "It's too small."

Son shuddered at Kei's detached choice of words, as if the intruder were a piece of meat. Toshi's paranoia was rising; he had risen from his seat and backed up almost to the wall, searching for a pistol somewhere in the room. "Who is it?" the pizza boy called in a strangled, wavering voice. "Who's there?!"

Kei heard a moan from just outside the door and a thin scratching as something or someone slid down to the floor. Yanking it open, totally prepared for a fight, the blond was shocked by a bundle of old rags tumbling into his arms, dripping blood from an arm and leg wound and wheezing for breath.

"Son?!" Kei asked, a little panicked, "Is he with you?!"

Son shook his head frantically: "I've never seen him before--"

"Please," the man gasped. "_Help..._" His head lifted convulsively and then the man collapsed, falling in a dead faint into Kei's waiting grasp.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Hmm, a new character?! Who could this be??

(Announcer voice) "Find out on the next installment of BEST KEPT SECRET!" XD

I really appreciate everyone's comments and reviews; yall rawk my sawks off to de MAX. I am having more and more time available to me, so don't worry, we'll have updates much quicker from now on... I think... Anyway, see you next time! Suggestions ARE taken into account (coffcoff).

--Em

(1)

This is a direct reference to the time when my friend Greg got held up by the police at gunpoint for trying to film a video with extremely realistic-looking airsoft guns. LOLZ. I had to do a storytelling oral history performance on it for my Intro to Performance Class, which rocked and totally killed me. Cops just should not be allowed to say "asshole" at random...

Plus then the cop started trying to scare them with his gun: "Y'all be careful now, or this won't be the last time you're looking down the barrel of a 99 millimeter, gas-powered, phonetic-barreled, water-purifying, free DSL cable receiving, slice 'em 'n dice 'em--" yeah.

(2)

I know some of you out there have seen the video Gackt recorded of him and the GacktJob scaring the crap out of poor Ren on his birthday. If you haven't, do. It is SO unbelievably hilarious. He hires a man to hide in the guy's closet and stage a hold-up in bad English, and OOH is it hilarious. Watch Gackt signalling the guy's move from the couch: "Ah, man, am I tired--" and then giving a little freaked-out yell and hitting the floor the minute the guy yells "Freeze" XD XD XD.

Enjoy!


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